Mark Patton: Hall of Fame Softball Coach Revels in New Opportunity at UCSB

Jo Evans knew the grass wasn’t greener on the other side when she headed for a job interview at UC Santa Barbara last summer.

But the former Texas A&M softball coach was still surprised to find parched fields of brown.

“I was like, ‘Oh wow! There’s definitely been a drought here!’” she told Noozhawk.

It’s been rivaled only by the dry spell experienced by the area’s NCAA Division I softball program.

A nurturing rain, however, has brought color back to the South Coast. And now new hope is budding with the turn of the softball season at UCSB.

“It has been really fun,” said Evans, who shocked the softball world by agreeing to coach a program with no national track record in the sport.

She already ranks 11th in the NCAA record books after having won exactly 1,300 games the last 38 years in head coaching stints at Colorado State, Utah and Texas A&M.

But she is still thrilled to get her hands dirty in the untilled soil of Campus Diamond.

“It feels more grassroots here, which I really love — just taking on a team that I feel we can really grow,” she said.

“I’m really loving being on the field, being with players who are coachable and want to be coached.”

Some serious yardwork is necessary. The Gauchos’ Big West Conference record of 6-21 last season placed them ninth in a 10-team race. Their overall record of 15-39 marked their fifth-straight losing season.

They did hold their own in most phases of the game. UCSB’s team batting average of .278 and fielding percentage of .956 nearly matched the numbers of its opponents.

But the pitching spun out of control with a school-record 269 walks. It crashed the staff’s earned run average to an all-time worst 6.05.

Looking to Go Full-Circle

Camryn Snyder, a junior righthander, had the most success in the pitching circle with a win-loss record of 7-10, a team-high 68 strikeouts, and a 4.65 ERA in 20 appearances.

Senior Ilona Sullivan and sophomore Ava Bradford are also back.

Freshman Malaya Johnson, who was signed out of Roseville High School by the previous coaching staff, is the Gauchos’ only other pitcher.

Evans was hired too late to bring in any of her own players. She did recruit an all-star coaching staff of Amy Hayes, Joy Jackson and Caroline Hardy.

She’s hoping that Hayes, who toiled as a head coach for 21 seasons at such schools as Bradley, Portland State and Boston University, will be a game-changer for the pitching staff.

“I basically told the administration that I’ve had some success and that I didn’t do any of that by myself,” Evans said. “I was only going to do this if I could put together a staff to take on this project.

“I really appreciated that they stepped up. Being able to bring in Amy Hayes, who’s got 20-plus years of head coaching experience, and is specifically a pitching coach, was really appealing.”

Hayes has had an appealing effect so far on UCSB’s pitching staff, Evans added.

“We’re going to use all four, for sure,” she said. “We’re bringing in three quality pitchers next year, but pitching is the question mark this season.

“Our kids are working hard, though. They’ve been bringing a big effort and have good work habits.”

That response has carried through the entire roster. Evans will get the chance to see how it comes together when the Gauchos make their season debut on Saturday and Sunday at San Luis Obispo’s Central Coast Classic.

Their home debut against Southern Utah will follow with a noon doubleheader on Feb. 17.

“The former staff recruited a lot of really good kids, so their attitudes are great,” Evans said. “There hasn’t been any kind of resistance or anything. They’ve been really open to trying new things.

“You can feel that energy when we’re out there.”

Jackson, her longtime associate head coach at Texas A&M, is handling UCSB’s defense. Hardy, an All-American at Alabama with three seasons of coaching experience at Georgia Tech and Young Harris College, is the new Gaucho batting coach.

Sure-Handed at Shortstop

Junior Madelyn McNally, a two-time, first-team All-Big West shortstop, has a good foundation in both areas. She batted a team-high .374 last year with 10 stolen bases while committing just two errors for a fielding percentage of .983.

A season-ending injury with 11 games remaining last year led to a tough finish for UCSB.

“She’s going to be a mainstay for us, for sure,” Evans said. “She has really good hand-eye coordination offensively. She runs the bases well, has good speed, is solid defensively.

“She’s a really coachable kid, too. The more confidence she gains, just playing every day, will make her better. I really enjoy coaching her.”

The new Gaucho coach also likes her options at catcher with junior Ashley Donaldson, and sophomores Daryn Siegel and Elicia Acosta. Donaldson alternated between catcher and outfield last season while batting .253.

“They’re all solid,” Evans said. “Donaldson right now probably gets the nod offensively. We’ll have her bat in the lineup.

“But we’ve worked hard to be at least a couple of people deep at every position.”

Most of last year’s starters have moved on. The only other returning players who got regular playing time are senior outfielder Sam Denehy (.358, nine stolen bases) and senior third baseman Korie Thomas (.215, a team-high 24 stolen bases).

The inexperience has left Evans unsure about what to expect this weekend. The Gauchos will play Nevada and North Dakota on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and then both teams again on Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in the season-opening event at Cal Poly.

“People keep asking me, ‘So what do you think about the season? How do you think we’re going to do?’” she said. “I honestly have no idea. I haven’t coached in the Big West and don’t know our level of opponents.

“I’m not being coy — I really don’t know where we’re at.”

But she does feel good about where she’s at.

Young at Heart

Texas A&M, an SEC school with the highest of expectations, declined to renew Evans’ contract last spring despite having qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd consecutive year.

It was also the Aggies’ 27th-straight winning season under Evans.

She took Utah, her alma mater, to the College World Series twice during her seven years at the school before making the trip to Oklahoma City three times with Texas A&M.

Her 2008 Aggies advanced to the NCAA final before losing to Arizona State. She got them to the Super Regionals seven times — most recently in 2018.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 2015.

Her peers in the WeCOACH organization recently gave her their ultimate honor by naming their Legacy Coach Academy Scholarship after her.

But Evans isn’t interested in looking back.

“I feel energized,” she said. “I love being here. I really enjoy working for this administration.

“I’m excited that Kelly Barsky was named as our permanent athletic director. Tom Hastings is our sports supervisor and he’s been great. I definitely feel supported by them.

“It’s very much servant-leadership here. Everyone is in there with their sleeves rolled up, doing their part.”

Evans took her first head coaching job at Colorado State in 1986 — only a year after UCSB’s first softball season in the Big West.

The Gauchos have never won a championship in a league that has been long dominated by the likes of Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

They have come close. Kristy Schroeder took them to the NCAA Tournament three times during her six seasons as coach, from 2002 to 2007. That included a runner-up finish in the Big West in 2004. UCSB placed second four times (2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017) during Brie Galicinao’s 15 years as coach.

Something Left to Prove

Their new coach is determined to get them over the top.

“I feel like I can make an impact here, and that’s really rewarding,” she said. “I have a lot of work to do to kind of prove myself all over again.”

Evans, an all-league second baseman and pitcher at the University of Utah during the early 1980s, still has a youthful bounce to her step. She rides her bike to campus most days and has been a full participant in Santa Barbara’s outdoor lifestyle.

“All the reasons I chose to come here have been validated tenfold,” she said. “I’m from Salt Lake City so the mountains are right there for us. Just to have mountains here with the ocean and the weather — it’s been great.

“I haven’t tried surfing yet,” Evans added with a laugh, “but I’ve loved going on hikes and walking to the ocean. It’s about a 20-minute walk from my house.

“I went up to Solvang for a day. I’ve been up to Happy Canyon and done some hikes up there, and just going downtown. There’s so much to do here.”

She wasted no time exploring California’s travel-ball circuit — an exercise that she considers a perk of her new position.

“When I was considering the job, one of the real appealing things was to be in a state that has so many great softball players,” Evans said. “We went hard after some kids.

“Everybody else had at least a year to watch these kids and we had a few weeks, but we’ve got some real quality kids coming in next year.”

She signed six in-state, high school seniors to letters of intent in November. They include pitchers Emily McCoskey of Pomona’s Diamond Ranch High School and Ainsley Waddell of Redwood City’s Sequoia High, a lefthander who had originally committed to Galicinao.

Evans also signed a quartet of field players: Emily Carr of Eastvale’s Eleanor Roosevelt High, Katie Terrazas of Norco High, Tehya Banks of Chino Hills’ Ayala High and Kaylin Garcia of Chino Hills High.

“Our focus was just getting athletes with versatility,” she said. “The pitchers hit. I think that’s always nice, to be able to play your defensive lineup when you’ve got a pitcher who can hit.”

Genetics indicate that many more turns of the season await UCSB’s newest coach. Her parents recently celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary.

“Dad has been following the news about the team and, every once in a while, will send me a clip from Noozhawk,” Evans said. “He’s 92 and still sharp as a tack. Mom is, too, and she’s 90.

“They’ve already been out here to watch practice and they’re planning to come for the home opener.”

Spring, after all, always arrives early for the family of Bonnie and Bill Evans.