SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State softball head coach Holly Hesse announced today (Oct. 23) her plan to retire following the 2024 season.
Hesse is in her 36th season at the helm of the Missouri State softball program which she inherited in 1988. She has accumulated a record of 903-857-2 (.512) while leading the Bears to six appearances in the NCAA Tournament, six Missouri Valley Conference Tournament crowns and two regular-season MVC titles during her tenure. Hesse is the winningest coach in Missouri State history and the second-winningest coach in MVC history in both overall (903) and conference (400) victories.
Last season, Hesse added to her legacy as she captured career victory No. 900 on April 26, 2023 with a 4-3 victory over Southern Illinois in Springfield, which capped an undefeated (15-0) season at home for the Bears for the first time in program history. She also collected her 400th career Gateway/MVC victory on May 7, 2023 at Murray State. She also owns the most wins of any head coach at the MVC Tournament with 53 victories.
Hesse’s career highlights include being named the Gateway Conference Coach of the Year in 1992, the MVC Coach of the Year in 1994 and being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. She has coached 40 different first-team all-conference players who have received 56 first-team all-conference honors, while her players have combined for 33 NFCA All-Midwest Region nods and 10 of her student-athletes have been inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame. Additionally, she mentored four conference players of the year and two conference pitchers of the year.
Barb Gaines, Missouri State softball’s only All-American who was inducted into the MVC Hall of Fame in 2023, earned NFCA All-America honors in 1993 under Hesse, while Erica Shepherd (1997) and Jessica Gorham (2000, 2001) were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
Hesse enters her final season ranked 18th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches in career victories, while being one of just 19 active head coaches with at least 900 career victories.
Off the field, Hesse is passionate about promoting the sport of softball, women’s sports in general and the coaching profession overall. She played an active role in the NCAA Women Coaches Academy, the Alliance of Women Coaches and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, where she has served as a keynote speaker and worked closely with other coaches. Additionally, she has authored two coaching books, “The Diamond of Success: A Philosophical Model for Coaching” and “Managing Your Program”, under the umbrella of True North Sports, and was selected as one of the Springfield Business Journal’s Most Influential Women in 2022.
A native of Waukon, Iowa, Hesse won an incredible 161 games as a pitcher for Waukon High. She was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Pitchers’ Hall of Fame in 1979. She went on to become a standout pitcher at Creighton, where she became the school’s first 20-game winner and helped the Jays to three consecutive College World Series appearances including the inaugural NCAA World Series in 1982.
Hesse then began her coaching career as she served as an assistant coach for two seasons each at Iowa State and UMass Amherst, where she earned her master’s degree in sport management in 1984. She also returned to her alma mater Creighton for two seasons as an assistant coach prior to being named the head coach at Missouri State.
The final weekend of the 2024 regular season will serve as a celebration of the legacy of Coach Hesse and all of those associated with the Bears softball program. All MSU softball alumni, coaches and staff are invited to join the Legacy Weekend celebration.
Athletic Director Kyle Moats on Holly Hesse:
“Holly’s dedication to the profession and to student-athletes for a successful life after softball have been paramount during her 36 years. Her success on and off the field centers around the hundreds of relationships she has cultivated over the years. She continues to be a leader in mentoring coaches throughout the country and advancing the sport of softball.
I have had the privilege of working with her for the past 15 years and she has always been a team player in every respect. She leaves an indelible legacy on our program. Everyone who has been associated with Holly will miss her expertise, interactions, counsel and her commitment to Missouri State University.
Holly and her staff are Bears through and through, and that will absolutely be missed.”
Head Coach Holly Hesse on Retirement:
“I have been blessed and honored to spend my entire head coaching career at Missouri State, a community that I deeply love and cherish. I am grateful that five different Presidents, including President Smart, and three different Athletic Directors, including Kyle Moats, have trusted me to be the caretaker of the Missouri State Softball program for the past 36 years.
A special thank you to Sue Frederick and Beth Perine, who coach side-by-side with me for three decades, for their love, loyalty and support while we built a program of success and significance.
My career has been filled with so many talented student-athletes who have touched my life and whom I have shared many wins, championships and special moments with, as we also grew through adversity and setback along the way. As I reflect back, my heart is full of gratitude for all of the relationships that I have cultivated with administrators, peers, players and the campus community.
For the time being, my focus is on preparing Team 56 for the spring season and the journey ahead as we challenge for a MVC Championship. This is a special team with high standards and expectations. I look forward to seeing all that this team will accomplish…Go Bears!”
Hesse’s Milestone Victories
Win Date Result (Opponent)
1 3/17/89 3-0 vs. Stetson
100 5/14/93 2-0 vs. Wichita State
200 3/8/97 6-0 vs. UMKC
*228 5/9/97 4-3 vs. Southern Illinois
300 3/24/00 3-1 vs. Coastal Carolina
400 3/20/04 9-1 vs. Indiana State
500 4/22/07 1-0 vs. Indiana State
600 2/17/12 7-2 vs. Sam Houston State
700 4/18/15 4-0 vs. Illinois State
750 2/9/18 4-0 vs. Mississippi Valley State
800 3/24/19 2-2 vs. Northern Iowa
900 4/26/23 4-3 vs. Southern Illinois
*Surpassed Kay Hunter (227-111) as winningest head softball coach at MSU
