With Clint Myers, Auburn Softball’s Future is Even Brighter Than Its Present

Photo courtesy of AuburnTigers.com.

The 2012-2013 athletic calendar was not friendly to Auburn University. A football program that hoisted the crystal football just two years earlier plummeted to a winless SEC season. The basketball program was in the midst of the mediocre (to be kind) Tony Barbee era. The baseball team, like its football and basketball counterparts, finished last in the SEC West.

The softball program did not have much luck in avoiding the same fate. Tina Deese had been the head coach since the program’s inception in 1997, leading Auburn to 9 NCAA Tournament regionals in 16 seasons. The team struggled in 2013, going 30-23 (7-17 SEC), and Deese was fired with a 561-459-1 (218-251 SEC) record.

Jay Jacobs was tasked with something that hadn’t been asked of an Auburn AD since 1997: hiring a new softball coach. Instead of settling for an up-and-coming coach as expected, Jacobs hit a home run by hiring Clint Myers.

It was evident from the day the hiring was announced that Myers would immediately produce wins. At Arizona State, he led the Sun Devils to 2 national titles in 7 Women’s College World Series appearances. He’s the only coach Auburn has ever hired in any sport who has won a national title as a head coach at another school.

Inheriting a very young ballclub, Myers led his first team to the 2nd-most wins in a single season in Auburn history (42). The Tigers’ home run total jumped from 32 to 83. The season ended in a regional hosted by the University of Minnesota, but the groundwork was laid for a special season in 2015.

And special 2015 was.

The 2015 Tigers became the latest Auburn team to wow the nation with a spectacular and thrilling run to national relevance, posting big offensive numbers, making highlight-reel defensive plays and finding nail-biting ways to win.

Auburn defied the odds by rallying to beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game. They again defied the odds by rallying from a 5-run deficit in the 7th to beat UL-Lafayette in extras in the school’s first-ever NCAA Super Regional. They again defied odds by winning two games in one day, beating Tennessee in a defensive battle and rallying from a 5-run deficit to beat UCLA, the greatest program in college softball history.

They finally fell at the hands of the top-ranked Florida Gators, but even that game proved just how much heart the Tigers have.

Now, Auburn softball can reflect on its terrific 2015 season and turn toward the future, which suggests that the program will maintain its relevance.

Of the 25 players on the roster, 22 return in 2016, with only Morgan Estell, Branndi Melero and McKenzie Kilpatrick departing.

In addition, Auburn signed nine new players in January, which will give Auburn more depth next season than it had this season.

Clint Myers’ legendary tenure at Arizona State allows him access to the West Coast in recruiting, which has already paid dividends with players like Carlee Wallace, who attended Valhalla High School in California (insert Mad Max: Fury Road joke here) before a phenomenal freshman campaign, and new signee Makayla Martin, who hails from San Diego.

Auburn hopes to extend Myers’ contract to ensure that he will stay with the Tigers until retirement. If he does, it’s hard to see future Auburn teams looking much different from the 2015 edition.

After Auburn’s 6-3 win over UL-Lafayette to clinch a WCWS berth, Myers said, “It’s not a goal to get to the College World Series. It’s an expectation.” He added that this year’s team is “a starting point for something very good here at Auburn.”

If the 2015 Auburn Tigers, a unit that was among the nation’s four elite teams, were simply a starting point for future success, Auburn fans should be thrilled about what could possibly still be in store in the Clint Myers era.