Randy Ward is in his third season on the Fighting Sioux softball staff and was promoted to associate head coach in Sept., 2008 after serving as assistant coach in his first season.
Last season, under Ward's tutelage, Nicole Puerling broke the all-time school record for career home runs with 24. Redshirt graduate Casie Hanson currently trails by one (23) entering her final season.
As UND's hitting coach, Ward helped engineer the most explosive offensive season in the history of Sioux softball in 2008. UND hit a school-record .304 as a team, one of seven different team hitting records established in Ward's first year. The Sioux also set new team standards for home runs (67), runs scored (279), hits (410), runs batted in (255), total bases (687) and walks (160). UND's 67 home runs were the most ever hit by a North Central Conference team.
Individually, Hanson hit a school-record .534 to win her second straight NCC batting title and was one four Sioux in last year's lineup to shatter the team record for home runs in a season. Hanson and junior first baseman Nicole Puerling each slugged a team-leading 13 home runs, breaking the old record by five.
Prior to arriving at UND, Ward spent the 2007 season as an assistant coach at the University of Northern Iowa, where he worked specifically with the team's hitters and outfielders. Ward helped significantly improve the Panthers' offensive output in virtually every offensive category, including the second-most home runs in team history.
Ward was the head softball coach at Nora Springs Rock Falls High School in Nora Springs, Iowa, where he helped the team to offensive records in home runs, batting average, runs scored and runs batted in. Before that, he spent three seasons as an assistant softball coach at North Iowa Arena Community College.
Ward is a 2005 graduate of Northern Iowa with a bachelor's degree in family services. He is currently working toward completion of his master's degree in physical education.
