New coach brings Aggies high hopes
COLLEGE STATION — Three games into her Texas A&M tenure, Trisha Ford already is earning milestone victories.
“I love wins, (but) I don’t really pay attention to that stuff, to be honest,” Ford said following her 400th career win as a college head coach.
It helped that she showed up to A&M’s sterling Davis Diamond last summer having won 397 games at Arizona State, Fresno State and her alma mater Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif.
Ford won her first three games at A&M to reach 400, and her task with the Aggies is straightforward yet quite involved: returning A&M to its softball glory days of two NCAA national titles.
Forty is another landmark number at the intersection of Penberthy Boulevard and Tom Chandler Drive — how many years ago the Aggies won their first NCAA title under then-coach Bob Brock. They added another four years later, and for more than two decades A&M softball was the lone NCAA title winner among the school’s team sports, until men’s golf won a championship in 2009.
Brock proved A&M could win multiple national titles in softball and his successor, Jo Evans, came close in 2008, finishing second at the Women’s College World Series, but she never reached the sport’s pinnacle over 26 seasons with the Aggies. That’s where Ford enters the picture, taking over a program with a pristine park — one of the country’s finest — but little bigtime success of late.
“I think this program is going to look a lot different than maybe it has in the past,” said catcher Julia Cottrill, a transfer from Oklahoma State who started her A&M career with four hits and five RBIs in the Aggies’ 12-2 season-opening victory over Tarleton on Thursday. “I’m really excited for what we have in store.”
Ford, who was 212-89 over six seasons at ASU with a WCWS showing five years ago, brought 11 newcomers onboard at A&M to inject new blood into a once-storied program.
“Being a transfer, it’s the first day all over again,” said starting pitcher Emily Leavitt, who didn’t allow a run over 41⁄3 innings in her A&M debut against Tarleton.
Leavitt arrived at A&M from Minnesota, where she made the Big Ten allfreshman team a year ago. Leavitt said she was immediately smitten with A&M’s many traditions.
“There’s nothing like it at any other school,” she said. “It’s amazing — the whole ‘Aggie Ring’ and everything. And I want nothing more to ‘whoop’ — I just love everything they have at this school and this stadium is amazing. And Coach Ford is the best coach I could ask for.”
A&M athletic director Ross Bjork, who didn’t renew Evans’ contract last year and who hired Ford from ASU, is now angling for a rising program matching the majesty of Davis Diamond. The Aggies’ nearly $30 million park opened five years ago but has hosted only one NCAA Tournament regional — and that was five years ago.
“I definitely want to start off on the right foot,” Ford said. “That’s important to me. And this place — I’ve really enjoyed it and I want to make this university proud. I want this area to be proud and this community to be proud.
“And I want it for the players. They’ve worked really, really hard.”
The door is open, too, for A&M to make its mark on the softball landscape as a Southeastern Conference representative. In a sport dominated by Oklahoma of the Big 12, the SEC has not won a national title since Florida won consecutive championships in 2015.
Cottrill said A&M fans should expect Ford’s first team, which includes 10 Texans on the roster of 20, to set aside any notion of rebuilding and compete from the opening swing of SEC play, which starts March 10 at Arkansas.
“We have a lot of softball to play,” Cottrill said with a smile.
While fans grew accustomed to Evans serving as the program’s third-base coach, Ford is most comfortable circulating during a game. Lots and lots of circulating, the quickwitted coach added with a chuckle.
“I mange the dugout and personalities and pitching,” she said. “Everything revolved around pitching with me. … If we’re not doing well you’ll see me (on) the move. I call them ‘routines.’ I have a lot of routines.”