NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University Director of Athletics,
Ed Hockenbury, announced on Thursday the hire of
Jacqueline Patts '00 for a second stint as head softball coach.
"I am incredibly excited to welcome Jackie Patts back to Norwich as our Head Softball Coach," Hockenbury said. "As both a former player and coach in the program, Jackie cares deeply about Norwich softball, and is keenly aware of our strengths and challenges. She is an enthusiastic and experienced coach who will be a wonderful role model for her players. Jackie also has great perspective on the role varsity sports play in the overall education of young women at Norwich, and she is energized by the opportunity to return to the head coaching position."
Patts's first stint began in 2007, after serving as an assistant for the previous six years, and lasted for three seasons where she accumulated 50 wins over that period. In two of those seasons, the Cadets made appearances in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament. In each of those three seasons, Norwich finished in the top 100 in the NCAA in runs scored per game, home runs per game, triples per game, and team slugging percentage while coaching five different players to All-Conference honors.
During her playing days, Patts served as team captain for three seasons, and earned GNAC First Team All-Conference honors her senior year, on top of winning several team awards including: Best Attitude Award, Most Outstanding Offensive Player, Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and Rookie of the Year while also winning a GNAC Championship in 2000 with the women's basketball team.
She is prominent in the record books, as Patts currently ranks in the top ten in career batting average (.423), career hits (148), career triples (12), career RBIs (84), single season slugging percentage (.811), and single season triples (6, 5).
Alongside her coaching duties at Norwich, Patts worked for nine years at Frederick Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington where she was a Behavioral Interventionalist, while also coaching Field Hockey, Girl's Basketball and Softball.
"Norwich University – its governing values, the staff and students helped to profoundly impact me as a student, an athlete and teammate, and as a leader," Patts said. " I am thrilled to rejoin the Norwich Coaching Staff and take on the responsibility of head coaching duties for the Women's Softball team. I am very much humbled and appreciative of Coach Hockenbury entrusting me with this position."
"Growth always comes from being challenged. If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you. I look forward to embracing that mindset this season, working together to build a team of dedicated, selfless, and hardworking student-athletes, who together, seek to give the best of themselves on and off the field."
Patts takes over a team led by
Madison DeCota (Strafford, N.H.), the reigning GNAC Rookie of the Year, who took home the conference batting title and earned the Cadets their first major conference award since 2006.
