Auburn softball coaching search hot board: 11 candidates to replace Mickey Dean
AUBURN — Auburn softball will have a new coach in 2025.
Mickey Dean, currently in his seventh season with the Tigers, plans to step down at the end of the 2024 campaign, the athletics department announced Tuesday. Dean has led Auburn to five NCAA regionals and three 40-win seasons during his time on the Plains. He's the second-winningest coach in program history behind Tina Deese.
“This was my decision and, while it was a difficult one, it is what I felt was best for me and the program moving forward to allow me to focus time on personal matters," Dean said in a statement.
Athletics director John Cohen won't have to make a hire immediately — at least six weeks remain before the season comes to a close — but here is a hot board of some names for him to consider as replacements for Dean. This list is in alphabetical order.
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Emily Carosone (Auburn)
A former Auburn player who joined her alma mater's staff as a graduate assistant ahead of the 2017 season, Carosone has elevated herself into to being Dean's associate head coach. She played four seasons with the Tigers from 2013-16, finishing with a batting average of .406 and 44 home runs.
Pete D'Amour (Virginia Tech)
Virginia Tech coach Pete D'Amour has led the Hokies to four straight NCAA regionals since 2020. His team bashed 100 home runs in 2023, leading the ACC by a wide margin; Clemson with 79 homers was the next-closest squad. D'Amour also has stops at Missouri as an assistant and Kennesaw State as head coach.
Gerry Glasco (Louisiana)
Similar to Dean, Gerry Glasco is in his seventh season in his current role. Glasco has been the coach at Louisiana since Nov. 20, 2017, helping the Ragin' Cajuns to a 276-82 record over that time. Glasco briefly served as associate head coach at Auburn before he got the Louisiana job. He also has SEC experience from his time at Georgia.
Rachel Lawson (Kentucky)
Longtime Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson has brought the Wildcats to new heights during her tenure. Kentucky had just one winning season before she arrived in 2007 and has 14 since. All of the program's appearances in the NCAA Tournament have come on her watch.
Jennifer McFalls (Kansas)
Jennifer McFalls got her coaching start as an assistant at Texas A&M from 1995-97. She held the same role at Oklahoma in 1998 before moving away from the college game from 2003-10; she worked at Hockaday School from 2003-05 and Midlothian High School from 2006-10. She served as a longtime Texas assistant ahead of her getting head coaching job at Kansas, where she is currently in her sixth season.
Glenn Moore (Baylor)
Baylor coach Glenn Moore has been a collegiate head coach for 27 seasons, and 24 of those have come with the Bears. He has over 1,000 career victories and led Baylor to a 40-win season in 2023, its first since Moore accomplished the feat in 2017.
Samantha Ricketts (Mississippi State)
Hired by Cohen in 2019 at Mississippi State, Samantha Ricketts has a clear connection to the person tasked with tabbing Dean's replacement. The Bulldogs reached an NCAA super regional for the first time in program history under Ricketts in 2022.
John Rittman (Clemson)
Clemson coach John Rittman, like Dean at Auburn and Glasco at Louisiana, was hired in 2017. He was the associate head coach at Kansas prior to that and made a name for himself in the collegiate coaching industry during an 18-season run at Stanford from 1997-2014. Rittman is a former baseball player who played at New Mexico State.
Chelsea Spencer (Cal)
Chelsea Spencer is in her fourth season at Cal, her alma mater; she won an NCAA title as a player with the Bears in 2002. Spencer has helped Cal to a 104-76-2 record in her tenure, including a current 24-8 mark amidst the 2024 season.
Ricci Woodard (Texas State)
Ricci Woodard has been at Texas State for the same amount of time Glenn Moore has been at Baylor — nearly 24 seasons. The Bobcats have won more than 800 games, 12 conference titles and have reached an NCAA regional 10 times with Woodard at the helm.
Marissa Young (Duke)
Duke won its first ever ACC championship under Marissa Young in 2021, finishing the season with a 44-12 record and earning a No. 13 national seed. Young followed that up in 2022 by helping the program reach an NCAA super regional for the first time before then hosting one for the first time in 2023.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn softball coaching search hot board: Who will replace Mickey Dean?
