The June 2026 update to our coaching databases is out to subscribers, and the story this month is baseball and softball. Between fired head coaches, wholesale staff moves, and the summer domino effect, 102 programs across the two sports lost 50% or more of their coaching staff in a single cycle.
That includes 55 baseball programs and 47 softball programs. Seventeen of them — 8 baseball, 9 softball — turned over 100% of the staff we had listed a month ago. And it comes with 95 brand-new head coaches across the two sports: 53 in baseball, 42 in softball.
The Numbers
Across the full June update:
- 2,362 new coaches added
- 4,279 removals
- 849 job changes (promotions and internal moves)
- 8,174 total change events across 1,965 schools and 43 sports
But the concentration in baseball and softball is what stands out. Of the 55 baseball programs with 50%+ turnover, 15 are D1. Of the 47 softball programs, 22 are D1. Roughly one in every 15 D1 softball programs blew up its staff in a single month.
At the head coach level: 8 new D1 baseball head coaches and 15 new D1 softball head coaches landed in the file this month, plus another 5 promotions to D1 baseball HC from within.
These numbers are expected to be even higher next month. That’s what our customers are telling us re: the turnover they’re seeing and hearing about.
The Baseball Domino: Coastal to Columbia
The single biggest sequence played out inside 72 hours in June.
Kevin Schnall left Coastal Carolina for South Carolina on June 10 and took his entire staff with him. Five names appear as removals at Coastal and additions at South Carolina in this exact update: Schnall (HC), Chad Oxendine (Associate HC), Matt Williams (Pitching, the 2025 ABCA National Assistant Coach of the Year), Mickey Beach (Director of Operations), and Tyler Shewmaker (Recruiting Coordinator).
That left Coastal with 56% of its staff cleared and only one name added: Chris Lemonis, the 2021 national champion at Mississippi State, hired within 24 hours to run his hometown program.
Elsewhere in D1 baseball, Towson (100%), Jacksonville State (100%), UNLV (83%), Houston (71%), and Nebraska-Omaha (67%) all cleared out most of their staffs. Jacksonville State’s Steve Bieser landed at Grand Canyon. FIU brought in former MLB manager Pedro Grifol. In all, this update captured 8 new D1 baseball head coaches — plus another 19 across DII, DIII, NAIA, and JuCo.
The Softball Story: 15 New D1 Head Coaches
Softball’s cascade is even wider than baseball’s. 15 new D1 head coaches landed in this update — nearly twice the baseball count — plus 17 more across DII, DIII, NAIA, and JuCo.
Both Illinois (57% turnover) and Minnesota (56%) — two Big Ten programs — fired their head coaches and rebuilt in the same cycle. Illinois pulled Jenna Hall away from Ohio (Ohio then hired Paige McMenemy). Minnesota pulled Gretta Melsted from Augustana (SD), leaving the D2 national-championship program looking for a coach.
Meanwhile, both Radford and Gardner-Webb — direct Big South Conference rivals — hit 100% softball staff turnover in the same month. Both programs are starting completely from scratch. Add Cal State Bakersfield at 100%, and three D1 softball programs are rebuilding every single seat.
Then there are the 80% clubs: Ohio and South Dakota. And 75%: UC Riverside and Utah State. And the 50% club, which adds Florida Atlantic, Colorado State, Northwestern State, Tulsa, Austin Peay, FIU, and Tennessee Tech.
Other confirmed D1 softball head coach hires reflected in the file: DJ Gasso at Tulsa, Andrew Rich at Boise State, Michelle Gascoigne at Colorado State, Olivia Watkins at FIU, Megan Pleskovic at Northern Kentucky, and Kristen Zaleski at Utah State.
Why It Matters
When half of a coaching staff turns over, the email address you had for the pitching coach doesn’t just stop being useful — it becomes a liability. The person reading that inbox now is deciding whether your first impression is spam or worth a second look.
102 baseball and softball programs need a fresh look this month. The updated contacts are already in subscribers’ inboxes.
Browse our baseball and softball databases →
ContactCollegeCoaches.com updates its college coaching contact databases every month. The June 2026 update is live now for existing subscribers.
