RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
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ABOUT
Rounding the Bases checks in with first-year assistant coaches at new programs and shines a spotlight on their coaching styles and perspectives. Some may be rookies in the coaching world, while others may be seasoned veterans who have simply moved to a new locale.
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During her college playing career, Krystal Goodman first suited up at Chipola College, then took the circle at Alabama. She was part of Chipola that finished as the JuCo national runners-up in 2018, then was part of a Crimson Tide squad that finished in the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series in 2021.
After her playing career ended, Goodman played professionally in both Italy and the Netherlands. She also served a graduate assistantship at Southern Miss, working as the Golden Eagles’ pitching coach during her single year in Hattiesburg. In late August, Goodman was named the pitching coach at Radford, her first full-time coaching role.
Extra Inning Softball: When did you know that you wanted to pursue coaching as your career path?
Krystal Goodman: I always knew that I wanted to stay around the game. Softball was my first love and will always be a passion for me. It wasn’t until I got to Southern Miss and worked with both the athletics communication side of things and the coaching side of things that I decided that I loved being able to grow the game as a coach.
Extra Inning Softball: Describe your coaching style. What do you feel are your biggest strengths as a coach?
Krystal Goodman: I take on coaching like a collaboration. It is important to me that my players and I are on the same page as much as possible. I really try to push them mentally to understand what they are doing from every angle, so when they get good outcomes they know what they are recreating to do it again. I feel my biggest strength is that I have done the hard things. I have been the starter and I’ve been the role player. I have been in the big games on the big stage and I’ve been part of a blue collar program. I know what the athletes are going through as much as anyone can
Extra Inning Softball: Tell me what you gleaned from your time on staff at Southern Miss. What did beginning your coaching career there instill in you to help build the remainder of your career on?
Krystal Goodman: Being at Southern Miss taught me all the basic lessons about being a coach. I had to learn how to discipline. It was easy for me to be the friend but hard for me to be someone with a little authority. I had to learn how to manage a staff. But the biggest things instilled in me from USM was to trust my decisions. At first, I was questioning everything. But once I was seeing improvements in my pitchers and we were winning games that everyone else thought we were supposed to lose like against Florida and Mississippi State, it was easy to know I was doing the right things. Southern Miss built a lot of confidence in my coaching abilities.
Extra Inning Softball: What do you take from your experiences as a player at Alabama that has and will continue to help you grow and succeed as a coach?
Krystal Goodman: A lot of my experience at Alabama taught me what a team is truly supposed to look like. I learned how important culture is for a team to be successful. Part of what made Alabama so special was the foundation of loving and accepting each other for who we are and using our unique gifts as people outside of softball to bring out the best players in all of us on the field. Knowing how to build a relationship with players that allows me to bring the best out of them is something that will help me succeed as a coach for years to come.
Extra Inning Softball: Are there added adjustments that you have to make, besides just moving to a new job, in moving to a whole new geographical area, a region you’ve not been in before? Walk me through how you make those adjustments.
Krystal Goodman: I’ve never lived further north than Tuscaloosa. I’m not going to lie this is a big adjustment for me being so far from home and in a totally different climate. But the staff here is really one big family, so I have support coming from all sides. I spent the summer playing and living in a couple different places in Europe so when I had the opportunity to move to Radford, I was already used to being out of my comfort zone. Though it was slightly overwhelming, the key is taking it one bite at a time.
Extra Inning Softball: The last couple of years have not been easy for anyone in the coaching world… even though you entered the coaching profession post-pandemic, have the challenges of the current times in college athletics affected you much – or at all?
Krystal Goodman: I think the priority is making sure the girls are healthy physically and mentally. As a coach, in a perfect world, I want the girls to never miss a practice, but sometimes it is in both their individual and the team’s best interest to provide a safe environment over anything, even if that means quarantining out of caution or keeping some distance from the team.
Extra Inning Softball: Let’s say we’re having this conversation one year from now, once you have a full season at Radford under your belt. What needs to have happened during that season for you to be able to say ‘this was a successful year’?
Krystal Goodman: Success is such a tricky word. The team at Radford this year is very young. I think success could mean winning a national championship or success could mean just growing from the beginning of the year. For me a successful year would be each of my pitchers reaching their individual goals they have set for themselves. At the end of the day, you are there to help the student-athletes reach their goals and aspirations and that is what is most important to me.