What July 1st Means for College Softball Realignment

While the biggest headline-making conference realignment moves are still one year away, the arrival of July 1st on Saturday signaled the official moves for a number of previously-known conference realignments.

The calendar change also marks the official beginning of the four paid coaches allotment for college softball programs.

Conference Realignment

A total of 16 college softball programs are joining new leagues on Saturday, all as part of moves made by their entire athletic departments. As part of that number, one school is moving from Division II to Division I and another school is completing the transition from Division I to Division III.

In addition to the 22 softball-playing schools that are changing leagues, a handful of others that do not sponsor softball programs are also realigning; we haven’t included those non-softball schools in the statistics below.

Le Moyne is the program moving up to the D1 level. Formerly members of the NE-10 Conference, the Dolphins are joining the Northeast Conference in Division 1. As with previous moves across divisions, the Dolphins will have to undergo a reclassification period before becoming fully eligible for D1 postseason play.

The Big 12 is tied for the league among all conferences with a +3 net gain in Saturday’s moves, adding UCF, Houston, and BYU to its softball membership ranks. The Big 12 will get to enjoy their largest softball membership total in this single year, with the addition of three new programs and with Oklahoma and Texas also still part of the league for one final year.

Five teams joining the American Athletic Conference give the AAC a +3 net gain on the softball side, accounting also for the loss of two programs. The American is arguably the strongest softball league among those affected by Saturday’s realignment, adding Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, UAB, and UTSA to its membership.

A full list of softball programs realigning on July 1st, including each team’s new league, is below. Teams noted with an * are moving from Division 2 to D1.

• BYU –> Big 12
• Campbell –> CAA
• Charlotte –> American
• FAU –> American
• Hartford –> Division III
• Houston –> Big 12
• Jacksonville State –> Conference USA
• Le Moyne –> Northeast Conference*
• Liberty –> Conference USA
• New Mexico State –> Conference USA
• North Texas –> American
• Sam Houston –> Conference USA
• UAB –> American
• UCF –> Big 12
• UTSA –> American
• Western Illinois –> OVC

4th Paid Coach

A number of Power Five and non-Power 5 programs have announced plans to add the 4th paid softball coach. The position was officially ratified by the NCAA last fall, eliminating the volunteer assistant’s position and allowing schools to now have four paid coaches, with full recruiting abilities and opportunities available to each.

Several programs have already announced plans to promote an existing staff member into the role; schools like Oregon and Minnesota, for example, are promoting their existing volunteer assistant into a full-time role. Notre Dame on Friday announced plans to promote their Director of Operations and former volunteer assistant coach into the full-time 4th-paid role.

Arizona was the first program to make a major splash with their 4th paid coaching hire, pulling hitting coach Josh Bloomer away from South Carolina and the SEC.