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Kathryn Gleason
Kathryn Gleason, a near 30-year coaching veteran with a combined four appearances in the NCAA Division I Women's College World Series as a student-athlete and as an assistant, was named the fifth head coach of the Northern Kentucky University softball program on August 3, 2015.
The Norse are fresh off making school history as NKU won the Horizon League Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2023.
Gleason’s 146 victories at NKU are the second-most in school history. She is also the program’s all-time winningest coach at the NCAA Division I level.
2023
It was a record-setting year for the Norse as the program went on a storybook run that concluded with the university’s first Horizon League Championship and the first NCAA Tournament appearance all-time in school history.
The year also included the first Power 5 win for the program in school history as the Norse knocked off Michigan State by a 3-1 margin back on Feb. 12. The first and second no-hitters of the NCAA DI era were also thrown by Lauryn Hicks and Alicia Flores as the college roommates threw back-to-back no-no’s in less than 24 hours of each other against Detroit Mercy on April 14 and April 15.
NKU also cleaned up when it was time to announce conference awards as Gleason was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year, Maddie Lacer earned Defensive Player of the Year and All-League First Team honors, Ella LeMonier and Lauryn Hicks joined Lacer as All-League First Team selections, Jena Rhoads was named All-Freshman Team and All-League Second Team and Brille DiMemmo joined her as an All-Freshman Team honoree.
To go with the record-breaking year on the field, the Norse finished with the 27th best GPA in NCAA DI softball with a 3.63 cumulative GPA. With the academic success, NKU had 17 student-athletes named NFCA All-America Scholar Athletes.
2022
Northern Kentucky went 27-29 overall and hit another milestone with a 14-13 mark in conference play. It was the second winning-season posted by the program since joining the Horizon League as the Norse advanced all the way to the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship.
Kendyl McKeough, Jordan Jenkins and Alicia Flores were selected to the Horizon League All-League Teams. McKeough was named to the First Team after she led the conference in multiple stat categories that included home runs (14), runs batted in (38), total bases (98) and doubles (14). Jenkins was also named to the All-League First Team while Flores earned an All-Freshman Team selection.
2021
NKU posted a mark of 14-24 overall in 2021, which included a record of 13-17 in Horizon League play.
Four student-athletes earned post season honors as Ava Lawson and Kendyl McKeough were named to the All-League Second Team, Ella LeMonier was selected to both the All-League Second Team and All-Freshman Team and Madisyn Eads joined her as an All-Freshman Team selection.
Off the field, Faith Howard and Lawson were named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team to go with 14 student-athletes selected as NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes.
2020
The Norse went 9-10, all in non-conference play, before the season was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The year included victories over Western Michigan, Belmont, Murray State, Purdue Fort Wayne and Creighton, amongst others. Northern Kentucky also posted its best season-opening record since moving to NCAA DI, as the squad went 3-1 to open the year at the Bruin Classic.
2019
The Norse picked up their first postseason victories in 2019, advancing all the way to the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship before falling to eventual champion Detroit Mercy.
NKU also posted its first winning season in the league, going 12-11 to earn the No. 4 seed. Ava Lawson was named an All-Horizon League First Team member for the second season, while Josie Frazier and Taylor Ginther were named to the Second Team.
Ginther also became NKU's winningest pitcher in Division I history, with 16 wins on the year and 25 victories for her career as a junior.
2018
Gleason led NKU to its first winning season since transitioning to the NCAA Division I ranks as the Norse finished 24-22, including a mark of 11-11 in the Horizon League.
Additionally, the Norse clinched their first-ever Division I postseason berth, earning the No. 5 seed into the Horizon League Championship.
Sydney Ferrante and Ava Lawson were named to the All-Horizon League First Team, while Taylor Brummell was named to the Second Team as well as the All-Academic Team. Ferrante capped off her career as NKU's first-ever NCAA Division I NFCA All-Region honoree.
2017
The Norse continued to see improvement under Gleason's guidance in 2017, going 14-38 overall and 8-16 in the Horizon League.
NKU won its first Horizon League series on April 12-13 with a pair of run-rule victories (9-0, 11-3) over Youngstown State. The team also picked up a victory in at least one League matchup against seven-of-eight conference opponents, including a 4-3, eight-inning win at HL favorite UIC.
Senior catcher/DP Dani Devlin was named to the All-Horizon League First Team after leading the League in home runs, while Kailey Rossiter was tabbed an All-Freshman Team selection.
2016
In her first season with the Norse, NKU was able to double its total wins from the 2015 season to take the first step in rising as a program at the NCAA Division I level.
The Norse went 13-40 overall and 5-18 in the Horizon League, up from a 6-42 (1-20 record in Atlantic Sun play) mark the year prior.
Freshman outfielder Zahrya McFarland was impactful in her rookie season, garnering Horizon League All-Freshman Team honors after leading the team in batting average, doubles, triples and stolen bases, while also ranking second on the team in hits and runs scored.
In League play, the Norse recorded wins over Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, Oakland and Youngstown State.
PRIOR TO NKU
Prior to making her way to Highland Heights, Gleason had spent three seasons as the head coach at Boston University, where she compiled an overall record of 74-74-1.
In 2014, the Terriers went 36-21 and made their second NCAA appearance in three seasons. BU struggled early on trying to find its identity with eight newcomers but eventually pulled it all together entering the month of April. The squad won 13 straight games and went a perfect 3-0 in the conference tournament.
The momentum carried over to the NCAAs, in which BU overcame a hard-fought 9-6 loss to then-No. 11 Arizona, with a dominating 8-3 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference champion Louisville. The Terriers were the only fourth-seeded squad in the postseason tournament to earn a win and were one out away from adding a second against then-No. 23 LSU. The win over the Cardinals also marked the first NCAA victory by a Patriot League member since 2009.
Accepting her first head coaching position at BU, Gleason was already quite familiar with the Terriers, having spent a combined six seasons at the University of Massachusetts, including the last two as associate head coach. Working primarily with the Minutewomen's infielders, she helped lead the team to the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship and a 38-13 overall record after finishing 29-19 in 2011.
Before rejoining UMass in 2010, she coached for six years at Michigan State, serving the last five years as associate head coach. She primarily worked with the infield, coaching six All-Big Ten and four All-Region honorees, along with guiding the Spartans to four straight Big Ten Tournament berths. She served as the program's recruiting coordinator and assistant director of all camps and clinics. Gleason was also the Spartans' liaison for the Friends of Jaclyn program.
Joining the Spartans' staff in June of 2004, Gleason moved to State following a three-year stint as an assistant coach at Purdue University (2001-2004) While working with the Boilermakers, Gleason assisted with team academics, equipment, promotions, tournaments, facilities, recruiting and strength & conditioning. On game days, she supervised and directed the outfield and assisted with the offense. Additionally, she worked with Purdue's softball camps and clinics.
During her first stint at UMass, from 1996-2000, Gleason helped lead the Minutewomen to four Atlantic-10 regular season conference titles and four A-10 Championships. They made four appearances in the NCAAs, including winning the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Regional Championships, as well as advancing to the Women's College World Series both years. During that time, she also coached a 2000 United States Olympic Gold Medalist, as well as a 2004 Canadian Olympian.
Gleason earned her bachelor's degree in sport management and communications from the University of Michigan in 1996. She was a member of the 1993, `95 and `96 Big Ten regular season championship teams, the `95 and `96 Big Ten Tournament Championship teams and played in the `95 and `96 Women's College World Series while serving as co-captain of the `96 team.
Gleason earned her master's degree in sport management from UMass in 2001. She is heavily involved with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), recently serving as the third vice president, after previously serving as the first vice president, the second vice president and assistant coach representative for the association.
A native of Country Club Hills, Illinois, Gleason was inducted into the Marian Catholic High School Hall of Fame as "Athlete of the Year" in the 2002 induction class. She was also inducted into the East Suburban Catholic Conference High School Hall of Fame in March 2008.
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