{"id":355360,"date":"2026-06-30T05:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/355360\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:23:16","slug":"texas-tech-softball-not-bringing-back-assistant-coaches-ahead-of-2027-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/355360\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech Softball Not Bringing Back Assistant Coaches Ahead of 2027 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5c\">After losing to the Texas Longhorns in consecutive Women&#8217;s College World Series finals, head coach Gerry Glasco has decided to make some changes to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/softball\/transfer-portal\/texas-tech-continues-to-make-moves-with-another-portal-grab-2026-zoie-bernard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Texas Tech<\/a> coaching staff.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">The Red Raiders have opted not to renew assistant coach Hunter Veach, sources told Softball on SI. Additionally,  Kayla Kowalik will not return as the Red Raiders&#8217; assistant coach.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sources tell me Texas Tech is making a couple of personnel changes to its coaching staff and is not renewing assistant coach Hunter Veach. <\/p>\n<p>Assistant coach Kayla Kowalik will not be returning either.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Maren Angus-Coombs (@Maren_Angus) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Maren_Angus\/status\/2071694594132078752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">Veach began his tenure at Texas Tech in 2025, helping his team earn an 115-24 record across two seasons.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">The former assistant spent his time in Lubbock, Texas, focusing on the Red Raiders&#8217; defense while also appearing as a first-base coach during games. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/softball\/college\/teagan-kavan-honors-late-pitching-coach-while-leading-texas-to-back-to-back-wcws-titles-2026-mike-white-longhorns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">second game of the 2026 WCWS<\/a>, a throwing error by Texas Tech&#8217;s shortstop in the fifth inning blew the game open, putting the Longhorns up 2-1 after the Raiders led the whole game 1-0. Texas Tech would go on to lose the game 4-1, missing out on another national championship after the error shifted the momentum of the game in Texas&#8217; favor <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">Even though the Red Raiders left Devon Park empty-handed, Veach still ushered his team to a .975 fielding percentage in 2026 and a .973 percentage in 2025.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">Before joining Glasco in Lubbock, Veach was at Louisiana with him as the primary defensive coach. He also spent time at Texas A&amp;M as director of player development and two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He got his start as a student assistant at Auburn.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">His future plans are not known at this time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Fans will also not see other assistant coach, Kayla Kowalik, in the dugout for the 2027 season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">Hired in 2024, Kowalik had a hand in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/softball\/transfer-portal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Texas Tech&#8217;s<\/a> exponential growth. The Red Raiders did not receive a spot in the postseason bracket after losing to Texas in the second round of the Big 12 Conference Championship bracket. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">As her team grew into one of the most talked-about teams in collegiate softball, Kowalik was also furthering her career as a player in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">On January 29, 2025, Kowalik was selected 28th in the inaugural AUSL draft, going in the seventh round to the Carolina Blaze.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Kowalik currently sits on the injured reserve list, but is on the roster alongside powerhouses like catcher Reese Atwood and pitcher Karlyn Pickens.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">masterclass in staying on top of the ball presented by Kayla Kowalik<\/p>\n<p>blaze up by FIVEEEEEEEE<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa ESPN <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/f3VTPGRbeH\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/f3VTPGRbeH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 carolina blaze | ausl (@AUSL_Blaze) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AUSL_Blaze\/status\/2068377033596383598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">In 2026, she has started eight games, batting .400 with two runs and 10 hits in 25 at-bats. During her first season with the Blaze, she appeared in 24 games, nursing a .266 batting average, picking up one home run, 13 runs and 17 hits.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">It&#8217;s unknown if Kowalik is pursuing other coaching jobs or if she is focusing her craft at the professional softball level. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing to the Texas Longhorns in consecutive Women&#8217;s College World Series finals, head coach Gerry Glasco has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-355360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}