MINNEAPOLIS-Seven-year head coaching veteran and Minnesota native Jamie Trachsel was hired Monday to lead the University of Minnesota softball program.
Trachsel comes to Dinkytown from Iowa State, where she led the Cyclones for one year following six at the helm of perennial NCAA Tournament contender North Dakota State University. Her hiring at Minnesota will be official after a standard university background check is completed.
A Duluth native and former standout at St. Cloud State University, Trachsel led the Cyclones to a fifth-place finish in the Big 12 last season, garnering their highest conference win total in eight years along with the best regular-season league finish since 1994. Trachsel's squad also saw improvement in the circle, dropping their team ERA by nearly two runs per game to the lowest since 2010.
ISU finished the season strong, winning six of its last seven league games along with a six-game overall winning streak. Two school records were set last season, with 99 team stolen bases along with Williams' 20 doubles breaking previous school marks.
Trachsel arrived at ISU following 14 seasons at NDSU, including the final six as co-head coach. In those half-dozen seasons, the Bison compiled a 221-109 overall record (.670), a 98-19 mark (.838) in the Summit League and advanced to NCAA Regional play five times. The Bison won their conference regular-season championship and the tournament championship five times each with Trachsel as co-head coach.
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NDSU won at least 30 games, including a school-record 45 in 2015 when it climbed as high as 41st in the NCAA Percentage Ratings Index (RPI), for 10 straight seasons.
The Bison advanced to the NCAA Regionals seven of the last eight years. The 2009 club won the Norman (Okla.) Regional to advance to the NCAA Super Regional in Tempe (Ariz.).
Her tenure with NDSU began with two seasons (2002-04) as a graduate assistant, followed by three (2005-07) as an assistant coach, three (2008-10) as associate head coach and the last six (2011-16) as co-head coach.
In her career, Trachsel has coached four All-Americans, 21 all-region and 55 all-conference players. She has also been on coaching staffs that were honored seven times, including NFCA Division I Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year twice (2009 and 2015). Trachsel has lectured at the 2015 National Fastpitch Coaches Association convention on training drills for outfielders. She was featured in an ESPNW story for her tactical defensive skills.
Trachsel also helped transition the Bison program from Division II to Division I. After placing seventh and third at the Division II national championship in 2002 and 2003, NDSU moved up to the highest level in college softball.
As a player at SCSU (1998-2000), she led the Huskies to three straight NCAA Division II tournament appearances and one conference title. Trachsel made the 1999 NCAA Division II All-Region Tournament Team and received All-Academic honors from the NFCA twice. SCSU won 127 games during her career.
As a prep athlete, Trachsel earned 17 letters (softball 6, tennis 5, basketball 5 and soccer 1) at Duluth Central. She is also a nine-time national champion in racquetball (1988-93 and 2003-05).
Trachsel earned her undergraduate degree in sports management (with minors in coaching and human relations) from SCSU in 2001. She added a master of education degree (in athletics administration) from NDSU in 2006.
