The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Softball

WEEKLY'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Coaching Experience 1997-01: Chattanooga, co-head coach 2002-21: Tennessee, co-head coach 2022-Pres.: Tennessee, head coach TENNESSEE HIGHLIGHTS Nine trips to the Women's College World Series (2005, 06, 07, 10, 12, 13, 15, 23, 25) Two-time WCWS Runner-Up Finish (2007, 13) Nine-time NCAA Super Regional Champion (2005, 06, 07, 10, 12, 13, 15, 23, 25) 14-time NCAA Regional Champion (2005, 06, 07, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25) Three-time SEC Tournament Champion (2006, 11, 23) 2024 SEC Regular-Season Champion 2023 SEC Regular-Season Champion 2007 SEC Regular-Season Champion Three-time SEC Eastern Division Champion (2004, 07, 12) 22 consecutive SEC Tournament appearances (2003-25) Two-time Speedline South Region Coaching Staff of the Year (2005, 07) Four-time NFCA Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year (2010, 12, 13, 23) Four-time SEC Coach of the Year (2004, 07, 23, 24) UT Daily Beacon Lady Vol Coach of the Year (2001-02, 02-03) 107 All-SEC or SEC All-Freshman selections 86 NFCA All-Region selections 45 NFCA All-America selections 37 CSC Academic All-America selections First SEC team to reach No. 1 in polls (2007) First SEC team to reach WCWS Championship Series (2007) CHATTANOOGA HIGHLIGHTS Two NCAA Regional appearances (2000, 01) Two-time SoCon Coach of the Year (1999, 2001) Five-time SoCon Champions (1997-2001) Two-time SoCon Tournament Champions (1997-98, 2000-01) WEEKLY'S YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORD Year School W-L-T Pct. 2025 Tennessee 4

A Lady Vol great, Aubrey Leach enters her sixth season on staff with Tennessee softball in 2026 and her second as the director of player development. “Aubrey...

One of the nation's premier offensive minds, Craig Snider joined the Tennessee softball program in June of 2024 following two seasons as the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. In his first season on Rocky Top in 2025, the Lady Vols returned to the Women's College World Series, advancing to the national semifinals after recording wins over Florida and UCLA. At the plate, UT slashed .302/.511/.404 as a team with 79 doubles, 19 triples and 73 home runs. It marked the first time Tennessee hit over .300 for the year since 2021, and the 19 triples tied the program record. Several Lady Vols had career seasons under his guidance, including Kinsey Fiedler, who tied the single-season triples record with eight. Sophia Nugent also thrived as she hit .298 with 25 runs, 51 hits, nine doubles, 18 home runs and 61 RBIs during her final collegiate season. Her 18 home runs are tied for the fourth-most in a single season in program history. From Franklin, Kentucky, Snider took over the helm of the Texas Tech softball program in June of 2022. In just two seasons, he guided the Red Raiders to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2018 and 2019. TTU had six players selected to All-Big 12 teams this past season in 2024, tying a program record. During his two seasons in Lubbock, Snider's offensive prowess has helped Tech record the most doubles (181), doubles per game (1.76), home runs (134), home runs per game (1.30), RBIs (562), RBIs per game (5.46) and the highest slugging

In his ninth year with Tennessee Athletics, Assistant Athletics Director of Sports Performance Dan Wirth is responsible for the supervision and development of all strength, speed, and conditioning programs for baseball, basketball, cheer/dance, golf, rowing, tennis, track & field/cross country, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, and volleyball. Wirth came to Rocky Top in November of 2017. He is instrumental in working with the Sports Performance staff to develop and coordinate Tennessee Athletics' performance science initiatives and serves on the Athletics Sports Performance Team and Sport Science Committee. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Wirth, 55, was promoted to Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Arizona in 1994. He directed all aspects of UA's varsity athletic strength training program for six years and managed strength and conditioning facilities for 19 sports and more than 550 student-athletes. He also worked directly with Arizona's football and men's basketball teams. During his tenure at the helm of the Wildcats' strength and conditioning efforts, Wirth developed programming for numerous All-Americans and Olympic champions in swimming, golf, basketball and football, as well as world-record holders in Power Lifting. He trained Arizona's 1997 national championship men's basketball team as well as the Wildcats' 1998 football team, which went 12-1 and attained a No. 4 national ranking. In 2000, Wirth was selected as the NSCA Pac-10 Strength and

Entering his eighth season on Rocky Top as the video coordinator for Tennessee softball, Hunter King is responsible for breaking down game day video, tagging...

Kayleigh returned to Tennessee as an Assistant Athletic Trainer with the Softball and Men’s Golf programs in July of 2022. She previously served as an intern athletic trainer with the Tennessee Swimming and Diving program during the 2020 season and is returning to Rocky Top after serving as the athletic trainer Ohio State softball during the 2021-2022 season. A native of Knoxville, Kayleigh received her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2018 where she spent time as a volunteer student athletic trainer with Bearden High School and Maryville College. She then went on to obtain her Master of Science in Athletic Training from Texas A&M University in 2020 where she worked with Texas A&M softball, football, and swimming and diving. Kayleigh is a member of the National Athletic Trainer’s Association (NATA) and the Southeast Athletic Trainer’s Association (SEATA). She holds certifications in Myofascial Decompression, Synergy Performance Taping, SASTM, as well as Fascial Abrasion Technique (FAT-Tool).

Laura Dukes enters her third season as Tennessee's director of operations in 2025-26. Dukes comes to Rocky Top with a wealth of experience, having served as an assistant coach and director of operations since 2020 at Lipscomb University in Nashville. A softball lifer, she had previous coaching stops at Belmont, Shepherd University and Austin Peay. A 2014 graduate from Middle Tennessee State, Dukes played softball for the Blue Raiders and was named Conference USA First-Team All-Conference in 2014. She graduated from MTSU in three years with her bachelor's degree in organizational communication. Dukes went on to Lipscomb for grad school and played for the Bison in 2015, earning NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors along with Atlantic Sun All-Academic Team recognition. She graduated from Lipscomb in 2016 with a Master's in conflict management.

THE RHODES SMITH FILE Personal Information Full Name: Megan Rhodes Smith Born: Oct. 8, 1985 Hometown: Nashville, Tenn. High School: David Lipscomb High School College: Tennessee, 2008 NFCA Pitcher of the Year 2023 - Ashley Rogers, RHP All-America Pitchers Karlyn Pickens, RHP 2025 NFCA First-Team All-American 2024 NFCA First-Team All-American Payton Gottshall, RHP 2024 NFCA First-Team All-American Ashley Rogers, RHP 2023 NFCA First-Team All-American 2021 NFCA Second-Team All-American All-SEC Pitchers Karlyn Pickens, RHP 2025 SEC Pitcher of the Year 2025 First-Team All-SEC 2024 SEC Pitcher of the Year 2024 First-Team All-SEC 2023 Freshman of the Year 2023 Second-Team All-SEC Payton Gottshall, RHP 2024 First-Team All-SEC Ashley Rogers, RHP 2023 First-Team All-SEC 2021 First-Team All-SEC 2019 First-Team All-SEC Erin Edmoundson, LHP 2022 Second-Team All-SEC Megan Rhodes appeared in three Women's College World Series as a Lady Vol Tennessee softball welcomed back "Lady Vol for Life" Megan Rhodes Smith as an assistant coach on June 8, 2020. The 2026 season marks her sixth year as the program's pitching coach. Under her guidance, Tennessee’s pitching staff has grown and developed into one of the nation’s premier units year after year. Since 2021, the Lady Vols have had a 20-game winning pitcher in four of five seasons with a pair of 20-game winners in 2024. Tennessee has thrown eight no-hitters and four perfect games since Rhodes Smith returned, highlighted by the 2023 season which s

Stephanie Sanders joined the Tennessee softball program as an assistant coach in June of 2024. In her first season on Rocky Top, the Lady Vols returned to th...

Updated: April 2024 Victoria Ip joined the Tennessee Athletics staff in July of 2023 as an Assistant Director of Sports Nutrition. Prior to coming to Tenness...