North Carolina assistant coach Marissa Young will lead Duke's softball program when it begins play in 2017-18, vice president and director of athletics Kevin White announced Wednesday.
A three-time All-American during her playing days at Michigan, Young was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 2003. She previously held coaching positions at Concordia—where she was head coach—and Eastern Michigan before joining the Tar Heel coaching staff for two years. Young coached the pitchers and catchers during the 2015 campaign, in which North Carolina went 37-16 and its pitching staff posted a 3.35 earned run average and 234 strikeouts.
In taking over Duke's newest athletic program, Young will be tasked with making the Blue Devils competitive in the ACC, which already has 11 softball teams.
“In Marissa Young, Duke was able to secure the talents of one of the brightest young stars in the softball coaching profession,” White said in a press release. “Her pedigree as both a coach and a player is simply spectacular. Having played for, and excelled in, one of the premier programs in America at Michigan, Marissa understands winning at the highest level of college softball."
With Young's hiring, the Blue Devil softball program now has a point person with whom recruits can communicate, the next of several steps needed to make softball Duke's 27th varsity sport. Another major question for White and company will be finding a softball field on campus, though the release stated that plans for the new stadium are already in progress.
One of Young's first major decisions will be deciding how to allocate the NCAA maximum 12 scholarships that the program has been allocated within the team's first four years of competition. The Santa Ana, Calif., native hopes to be as successful as a head coach in Durham as she was on the field in college.
Young tied the single-season record for home runs and is Michigan's all-time leader in strikeouts. She played professionally for two years before beginning her coaching career.
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