Dobbins named Southern head softball coach

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Southern University athletics director Dr. William Broussard has announced the appointment of Lee Dobbins as head softball coach.

Dobbins is expected to begin his tenure as the second head coach in SU softball history once Broussard's recommendation is approved by SU Chancellor Dr. James Llorens.

"We're excited to have Coach Dobbins join the Jaguar Nation," said Southern athletics director Dr. William Broussard. "With his extensive experience as a Division I assistant and Division II head coach, and his reputation as an excellent teacher and tireless recruiter, we expect great things moving forward from Jaguar softball."

During two seasons at Emory, Dobbins helped the Eagles amass a 76-10 overall record while leading the team's pitching staff to a 1.43 ERA in 2012.

"Southern has a great athletic tradition and I see a lot of potential in the softball program being not only the best in the SWAC, but in the region and the nation," said Dobbins. "Personally, the Baton Rouge area is a great spot to put down roots. With great leadership in Chancellor Llorens and Dr. Broussard in athletics, the potential of building something great was a big draw for me."

"We will recruit nationally and even internationally and utilize talent pools from all over to build the program into a consistent SWAC and NCAA competitor. Strategically, we are going to be a team that has solid defense and pitching and, offensively, will run the gamut to use the speed game to power as our personnel calls for. We won't restrict what we need to do strategically or instructionally to make Southern softball successful."

Prior to his stint at Emory, Dobbins served as an assistant coach at Division I University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2010-11, where he worked primarily with the pitchers and catchers. In 2011, he helped the Lady Mocs to an overall record of 44-14 that set a school single-season record with a winning percentage of .759 and claimed the school's 12 Southern Conference regular season championship and 11th SoCon Tournament title.

It was his third stint with the Mocs, starting as a volunteer assistant in 2005 before returning for the 2006-2007 school year as the director of softball operations

Dobbins played an instrumental role in aiding Kandice Irwin first place finish in saves in the NCAA with eight in 2011. In addition, SoCon Player of the Year Michelle Fuzzard led the team with an 18-6 won-lost mark in the circle.

Dobbins inherits a program that went 13-75 over the past two seasons but has won two SWAC titles and finished as the conference tournament runner-up five times.

"If you believe you will lose or bad things will happen, then they probably will," Dobbins said. "We are going to create a culture of winning and positivity by shaping how our players, coaches, and support staff conduct themselves and think, and therefore create a culture of hard work and winning. Doing (things) the right way will eventually create the successful atmosphere we desire and the Jaguar Nation deserves."

During the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Dobbins was an assistant on the Austin Peay State University staff where he handled recruiting along with coaching the pitchers and catchers. In his first year with the Lady Govs, the team’s ERA dropped from 5.75 to 3.59 while the mounds corps struck out an average of two more batters per game.

Dobbins head coaching experience began as the head at Lander University during the 2006 season where the Bearcats went 27-28-1. He also served as head softball coach at Texas A&M International in Laredo, Texas.

Before landing the head coaching spot at Lander, Dobbins gained experience as an assistant at Tusculum from 2003-04. He broke into the collegiate ranks as a student assistant at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in 1997 and also served at Tennessee from 1999-2000.

In addition to coaching, Dobbins also has served as the executive director of the Ace Softball Inc. Fun-In-The-Sun Classic. The Bradenton, Fla. tournament draws college teams from all NCAA Divisions throughout the country during the spring.

Dobbins claims international experience as well, recently return from Argentina where he worked with their softball federation and national teams as a technical and instructional consultant for their players and coaches.

He also served as the head coach of the 2006 Athletes International College Goodwill Team from Munich, Germany. Dobbins worked at the National Training Facility in Barcelona, Spain as a video consultant for the Spanish National Softball Team in 2002.

An active member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), Dobbins has also served as camp instructor and camp director at several high-level college camps throughout the southeast over the past several years.

Dobbins obtained his bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Tennessee in 2002. He is the owner of Dobbins Softball Consulting and Development, which is a national and international consulting firm that assists in the development softball clinics and camps.

COURTESY SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS