Katie Wagner joins staff as assistant coach
07/06/2015 | 12:00:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - SIU head softball coach Kerri Blaylock announced the hiring of Katie Wagner as an assistant softball coach. Wagner will replace Buddy Foster, who retired from coaching and became the Director of Athletics at Morthland College in June.
Wagner, a Mt. Vernon, Ill., native, was a four-year letter winner for the Saluki Softball team from 2006-09. Wagner was an All-MVC honoree in 2009 and a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week. She was a three-sport athlete at Southern, also competing for the SIU women's basketball and track and field programs after her softball career.
"I'm excited for Katie to come back to the family," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "During her outstanding career, Katie embodied what Saluki Softball is all about. She was a tough player, a great student and a winner. I can't wait for her to share her passion for SIU with the current team."
After her playing career, Wagner served as an assistant softball coach at Saint Louis in 2011, SIU Edwardsville in 2012 and Miami (OH) in 2013 and 2014. She worked with hitters at all three stops. She has worked with both infield and outfield.
After the 2014 season, she developed and ran two baseball/softball programs at Turn2/Crossfit Collinsville designed to help high school athletes aspiring to play collegiate softball. Her Velocity program was designed specifically for baseball/softball players to help improve their body control, awareness, flexibility, stability, strength and overall athleticism. Wagner's Collegiate Recruitment Program was an all-encompassing approach based off of experiences from her time as a recruited athlete and recruiting coach to help players understand the importance of time management, academics, goal setting, physical and academic progress tracking, unofficial/official visits and expectations when communicating with collegiate coaches.
"It feels great to be coming home," Wagner said. "I am extremely blessed and excited to have an opportunity to reunite with an institution, program and community that had given me so much as a student-athlete. I'm looking forward to continuing to learn from Kerri and Jen, and I am even more excited to share my own personal experiences as a coach. I'm ready to get to work and to help provide our players with the knowledge, guidance and support to become confident and competitive student-athletes on and off the field."
In her first season as an assistant coach for the RedHawks, Wagner helped the team set a program record with three players on the All-Freshman team. She also helped three players earn first-team All-MAC honors, while three more players earned All-MAC honors in her second season at the school. In 2014, Bree Lipscomb set a program record for doubles in a season (19) while also ranking in the top-five in school history in home runs and RBIs.
During Wagner's SIU career, the program won 139 games and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. The Salukis hosted an NCAA Regional in 2007.
"I played at SIU because of its commitment to academic and athletic success," Wagner said. "I'm proud to rejoin that tradition as a coach."
Wagner graduated from Southern Illinois with a bachelor's degree in education in 2009.