Bringing Women's College World Series experience to East Lansing, Sharonda McDonald-Kelley has been named head softball coach at Michigan State. Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller made the announcement June 10.
"I'm excited to welcome Sharonda McDonald-Kelley to our Spartan family," Haller said. "She's experienced great success as both a coach and a student-athlete, and has a plan to help Spartan softball achieve similar results. She is a teacher of the game, with a proven track record of skill development, helping student-athletes maximize their potential as she did during her record-breaking college career. She has a wealth of experience at several successful major Division 1 programs. And with her demonstrated success of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances as head coach at Campbell, she's proven she has the ability to successfully implement her approach in a short period of time."
McDonald-Kelley guided the Campbell program to a 101-81 record over the last four seasons, winning Big South tournament titles with the Camels in 2021 and 2022. McDonald-Kelley's teams went 50-19 in Big South play and advanced to NCAA Regionals in each of the last two seasons, marking two of the five times a Campbell team has reached the NCAA Tournament since 1986. In 2021, McDonald-Kelley was named Big South Coach of the Year after her team won both the Big South regular season and tournament titles.
"I want to thank God for this incredible opportunity," McDonald-Kelley said. "I would also like to thank Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller for the opportunity to lead the Michigan State softball program. The vision for the softball program and the investment into that vision was clear to me from the beginning. I could feel the pride ingrained in the culture of Michigan State athletics and know I will have the full support of the administration. Core values and family are very important to me. My family and I are excited to embrace the Spartan culture and become part of the community."
McDonald-Kelley steps into the head coaching role following the retirement of long-time Michigan State head coach Jacquie Joseph, who guided the team for 29 seasons.
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