May 20, 2015 Inside LMU Softball | LMU on Facebook |
LOS ANGELES - Following 21 seasons and 693 wins, the most by a coach in LMU Athletics history, softball Head Coach Gary Ferrin will retire from the University effective May 31, 2015.
"Gary's 21-year career at LMU has seen our softball program through great transition and development," said LMU Athletics Director Dr. Bill Husak. "We thank him for all of his hard work and dedication and wish him the best in his retirement."
Ferrin's tenure at LMU began in 1995 as he was named the sixth coach in the program's history. In 1996, his second season at the helm of the squad, he guided the Lions to their first-ever winning season, posting a 44-27 record.
The team competed as an independent until 1999 when they joined the Western Independent Softball League. During four seasons in the WISL, the Lions won two championships. LMU joined the Pacific Coast Softball Conference in 2003 and immediately clinched the league title, going 33-20 overall and 14-5 in PCSC play.
Ferrin would guide the Lions to two more PCSC titles (2005, 2007), which led to the program's two NCAA Tournament appearances. The Lions also earned the PCSC Coastal Division title in 2011.
In all, Ferrin led LMU to 15 winning seasons, including nine straight winning records from 1999-2008, and earned three PCSC Coach of the Year honors (2005, 2007, 2011). He coached seven Players of the Year and five Pitchers of the Year in 10 years in the PCSC and won three PCSC titles, the most of any program in the conference's history. In 2014, he led LMU into a new era as softball became a West Coast Conference sponsored sport.
Off the field, Ferrin's tenure also saw the building of Smith Field (2006), a locker room in the Lions Athletic Center just for softball (2011), the addition of two full-time assistant coach positions and the NCAA scholarship limits essentially being reached.
Current Associate Head Coach, and alum, Sami Strinz has been named the Interim Head Coach, assuming all duties and responsibilities of the program until a permanent head coach is named.
