Conference USA’s Kelly Gatwood, the New NCAA Softball Committee Chairperson

Conference USA associate commissioner Kelly Gatwood is the new chairperson of the NCAA D1 Softball Committee, the group charged with selecting the NCAA tournament field and managing the Women’s College World Series.

A former softball player and coach and a veteran administrator, Gatwood is in her fourth and final year on the Softball Committee; she is one of two members who will rotate off the committee following the 2023 postseason.

Gatwood – nee Ninemire – is the C-USA Associate Commissioner for Sport Services. She previously served a four-year term on the Softball Rules Committee, a tenure that ended in 2020.

In her role with Conference USA, Gatwood is the sport administrator for softball and volleyball and previously oversaw women’s tennis. She is the conference liaison for the league’s Senior Woman Administrators and she also administrates the men’s basketball officiating consortium, a role where she is responsible for reviewing game contracts, coordinating schedules, verification of all game assignments and working directly with athletic administrators and coaches from institutions from all five conferences (Big 12, CUSA, Missouri Valley, Southland, Ohio Valley) in the consortium.

During her own career playing college softball, Gatwood suited up at a trio of schools. After beginning her playing career at Arkansas, Gatwood later played at Odessa College before finishing her collegiate career at New Mexico. She later spent the 2009 season as a graduate assistant coach at Odessa College.

Hired to the Conference USA office as an administrative intern in summer 2009, Gatwood was promoted to a full-time position in 2011 and has worked for the league ever since.

Last season, as part of her role as a Softball Committee member, Gatwood was one of two co-chairs of the South Region Advisory Committee.