Utah Valley University Athletics

The reigning WAC Coach of the Year, head softball coach TJ Hubbard recently finished his second season of coaching at Utah Valley in 2018. Hubbard earned WAC Coach of the Year honors in 2018 after leading UVU to its best WAC finish in program history by placing second in the conference standings with a 10-4 league record. He also took his team to just its second postseason appearance in program history this past season by earning a berth to the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC).  
 
Hubbard also coached both the WAC Pitcher of the Year and WAC Freshman of the Year for the second consecutive season in 2018 after Makayla Shadle and Peyton Angulo took home the respective honors this past season. During his first season at the helm of Utah Valley (2017), Lauren Frailey Spendlove and Caragh Morris earned WAC Pitcher and Freshman of the Year honors. He also coached UVU's first two NFCA All-Region players in program history in Frailey Spendlove in 2017 and Shadle in 2018, as the two right-handed pitchers each earned third team all-region recognition.

After helping his team post its best WAC finish in program history with a 7-8 league record in his first year at the helm in 2017 and nearly double the team's output in total wins from the season before with a 16-24 overall record, Hubbard's then led his team to its most wins since 2013 with a 21-31 overall record and its best conference finish in program history by taking second with a 10-4 WAC ledger. His team then earned its first bid to the NISC in program history in 2018 after receiving the WAC's automatic bid to the postseason tournament. Utah Valley took part in the Las Vegas NISC Regional and matched up against in-state foe Weber State as well as Nevada of the Mountain West Conference. 

During his two seasons at Utah Valley, he has coached a total of seven all-conference honorees, nine academic all-conference selections, eight Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athletes, and a pair of NFCA all-region performers. 

With eight seasons of NCAA Division I head coaching experience under his belt, Hubbard will enter 2019 just two wins shy of 200 victories for his coaching career, as he holds a 198-216-1 overall career record (.478) and a 81-83 conference career clip (.494).
 
Hubbard comes to Utah Valley with an impressive resume, as he's held stops at Kansas, Louisiana and North Texas. Following a six-year head coaching gig at North Texas (2008-13), he then spent two years as an associate head coach for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (2014-15) before spending the 2016 season as an assistant for the Big 12 Jayhawks. 
 
Hubbard most recently served as KU's hitting coach where helped lead the Jayhawks to a 31-20 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference standings with an 8-9 league clip. Prior to his stop in Lawrence, the new Wolverine head man helped guide the Ragin' Cajuns to a pair of deep runs in the NCAA Tournament in both 2014 and 2015.
 
In 2015, Hubbard aided in Louisiana returning to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament. On the year, Louisiana hit .346, which was among the top 10 batting averages in the nation, while recording 116 home runs, 68 doubles and 398 RBIs. Hubbard assisted with the Ragin' Cajuns offense that led the country in home runs per game (2.15) and finished the season second in scoring (8.15 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.652).
 
In his first season with the Ragin' Cajuns, he helped the squad advance to their sixth Women's College World Series with a 49-10-1 mark, sweeping the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles. In the NCAA Tournament, No. 6 Louisiana took down Texas Southern and Texas in the Lafayette Regional before defeating national power Arizona in the Lafayette Super Regional for its first trip to Oklahoma City since 2008.
 
At North Texas, Hubbard led a Mean Green program that became one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference before their departure following the 2013 season. He finished his career at North Texas with a 161-161-1 record, setting program records in both wins and winning percentage.
 
In his initial campaign leading North Texas (2008), Hubbard set a school-record 27 wins and helped his team to its best finish at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in program history. He would later break that record twice, winning 29 games in both 2010 and 2013.
 
Under his tutelage, 19 North Texas players were named All-Sun Belt, including a school-record three players in his final season. He coached 10 All-Sun Belt selections and one All-Central Region First Team selection (Mariza Martinez) in his six years at the head of the program.
 
Hubbard was named the head coach at North Texas in 2008, after serving the previous four years as an assistant coach for the Mean Green. Prior to his time at North Texas, he was an assistant coach at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma. As an assistant, he helped lead Seminole State to a 64-16 record in 2004, a NJCAA Region II championship and a third-place finish in the NJCAA National Championships.
 
A 2002 graduate of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Hubbard received a bachelor's degree in exercise science and sports management.  At OWU, he was a three-year letterwinner for the baseball team as a second baseman.