Pitchers Taylor McQuillin, left, and Danielle O'Toole mug behind then associate head coach Stacy Iveson. Iveson will move to an administrative position this upcoming season.
Sometime this week, probably Tuesday, Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea will announce that he has hired a new pitching coach. If it’s not two-time Women's College World Series champ Taryne Mowatt of Ole Miss, it’ll register as a 7.4 surprise on the Richter scale.
This means that Stacy Iveson is no longer Arizona’s pitching coach, and losing Iveson in any capacity is not good.
Iveson is the top Tucson-born, Tucson-raised figure in our rich softball history. She was one of Candrea’s first recruits at Arizona, 1986, and played on his first NCAA Tournament team in 1988. She coached Salpointe Catholic to the 1993 state championship. She coached Pima College to the 2004 and 2006 NJCAA national titles. And she was on Candrea’s staff for NCAA championships in 1996, 1997 and 2001.
About a year ago, during the summer travel-ball season, I caught an 11:30 p.m. Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Tucson. Just as I was about to close my eyes and wonder why I scheduled an 11:30 p.m., flight, Iveson rushed through the door, the last person to board.
"Recruiting?" I asked as she walked by.
"Recruiting," she said.
So a few weeks ago, Iveson chose to step away as an on-field pitching coach and on-the-road recruiter and move to an administrative position that, while time consuming, is not attempting to correctly evaluate 13-year-old softball players and rush to an airport at midnight.
Good for her.
"I still want to be totally involved," she said, "but my focus will be on day-to-day operations with a heavy emphasis on the coordination of recruiting."
In recent years, Candrea, Iveson and assistant coach Caitlin Lowe have been part of the 21st century craziness of big-time softball: they have begun evaluating and offering (and accepting) scholarships to those in the eighth grade.
"I remember when Jennie Finch came on her recruiting visit and committed to us; she was a high school senior," Iveson said. "That never happens any more."
Indeed, on Friday the UA got a commitment from Phoenix Red Mountain High School outfielder Alayna Hicks, who is early in her junior season. A year ago, the UA got a commitment from Tucson High freshman Carlie Scupin, one of the top prospects in Tucson history.
"I can’t recruit off-campus, but I’ll set up our camps, be responsible for correspondence, create a stronger social media presence, set up recruiting visits and all of that," said Iveson. "We need to evolve in get better in those areas. The game has shifted, and we’ll shift with it."
Candrea has been invited to speak at the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Convention Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. Among other items, he is likely to speak to the industry about slowing down the recruiting process; Florida last week got a commitment from Mia Williams, a seventh-grader who will be in the Class of 2023.
Mowatt, who began her coaching career at Cal Baptist and is in her third year at Ole Miss, is also speaking at the NFSCA convention. Her topic: pitching. It reflects her rise through college softball since pitching her last game at Arizona in 2008.
Iveson was the UA’s fourth pitching coach since Nancy Evans departed in 2007. Gale Bundrick, Teresa Wilson, Alicia Hollowell and Iveson followed.
"I feel so blessed to be here," Iveson said. "When I graduated from the UA I remember thinking I was finished with softball. Then Salpointe called and asked me to coach. I said ‘I don’t know; I’m going to be a teacher and start another life.’
"After that, after going back to softball, it always seemed to work out for me."
