After five seasons with the Golden Eagles, Southern Miss softball coach Wendy Hogue announced on Friday, May 10 that she is stepping down from her role with the program.
Hogue said that she needs to make her family her priority.
“The opportunity to lead your softball program has been so very rewarding in most every aspect,” Hogue said in a press release. “However, there is one area in which doing this job to the best of my ability leaves a void, and that’s time with my family.”
Hogue was hired at Southern Miss in 2014 after a seven-year tenure at William Carey University. Before her debut with the Lady Crusaders Houge spent five years at Petal High School coaching both slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball.
“Though I love being a Golden Eagle, I hope you’ll understand that for this season of life it is best for me to step away from coaching at the Division I level and pursue an option that allows me to be more present with my family,” Hogue said. “Southern Miss is a great place. I’m forever grateful to be a Golden Eagle.”
Hogue posted a 124-146 record in her five years with the Golden Eagle program. Southern Miss also captured a C-USA West Division co-championship in 2016. The achievement was accompanied by 30 wins for the season which had not been accomplished by a Southern Miss team since 2004.
For the 2019 season, the Golden Eagles finished with a 30-22 record and an appearance in the C-USA tournament. Also, this season saw the longest win streak for Southern Miss softball since 2000 with 11 games.
“I want to thank Wendy Hogue for her leadership of the Southern Miss softball program,” Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain said.
With only 10 days officially on the job, McClain will begin a national search for the next head coach immediately.
“She has had a positive impact on those around her, and there is no doubt that she has left this program in a better place than it was four years ago when she arrived,” McClain said. “Selfishly, I am disappointed that I will not be able to work with her again moving forward. However, I have the utmost respect for her decision to do what she feels is best for her family.”
