Shonda Stanton Wins #700: Five Fast Facts

Indiana head coach Shonda Stanton earned her 700th career win on Saturday.

The Hoosiers’ coach recorded the milestone victory in a 2-0 win over Sam Houston State at the Hall of Fame Classic in Oklahoma City.

As the veteran coach celebrates her newest achievement, here are Five Fast Facts about her and her career.

1. She is in her 24th season as a Division 1 head coach.

After beginning her head coaching career in the late 1990s as the first-ever head coach in IUPUI’s Division 1 program history, Stanton went on to become the head coach at Marshall where she spent the better part of two decades and led the Herd to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. She was hired at Indiana in the summer of 2017 and is in her fifth season, third full season, of leading the Hoosiers’ program.

2. She is the winningest coach in Marshall program history.

In eighteen years leading the Marshall program, Stanton recorded 560 wins and led the program to some of their greatest heights, as well as shepherded the Herd through a conference transition. The Herd won championships in both the Mid-American Conference and Conference USA under Stanton’s guidance and earned national relevance.

3. She has led a historic turnaround in the Indiana program.

Prior to Stanton’s arrival in Bloomington, the Hoosiers had posted a winning record in just four of the previous twelve seasons of play and were above .500 in Big Ten play in just two of those years. In Stanton’s first season, the Hoosiers delivered in impressive fashion against B1G opponents, going 17-6 in conference play and finishing third in the league standings. Since then, the Hoosiers have recorded a winning record in three straight seasons – including the abbreviated 2020 campaign and the conference-only 2021 season.

4. She has also coached professional softball.

In 2007 and 2008, Stanton coached the Akron Racers in the then-active National Pro Fastpitch professional league. Stanton led the Racers’ franchise to  a second-place finish in the league standings in 2007 and also shepherded the league’s batting average champion and Offensive Player of the Year during her tenure.

5. She enjoyed a stellar collegiate playing career at UNC Greensboro.

During her four years as a UNCG Spartan, Stanton – then Shonda Spagnola – was an every-day starter and helped guide the Spartans to back-to-back Big South Conference titles. As a senior, she set a single-season program record for runs scored and still stands in the top ten in UNCG program history in career runs scored and career stolen bases.