Renee Luers-Gillispie | |
Current Title: | Head coach |
Current Team: | Iowa |
Current Conference: | Big Ten |
Birth Place: | Livermore, California, USA |
Player Years1: | 1980-1981 |
Player Team1: | Kirkwood Community College |
Player Years2: | 1982–1983 |
Player Team2: | West Texas A&M |
Player Positions: | Pitcher |
Coach Years1: | 1991–1992 |
Coach Team1: | Joliet Junior College |
Coach Years2: | 1993–1995 |
Coach Team2: | Bradley University |
Coach Years3: | 1996–1999 |
Coach Team3: | Texas Tech |
Coach Years4: | 2002–2018 |
Coach Team4: | UCF |
Coach Years5: | 2019–Present |
Coach Team5: | Iowa |
Championships: | C-USA Tournament Champions (2005, 2008) American Regular Season Champions (2014) NISC Champions (2023) |
Awards: | N4C Coach of the Year (1992)Conference (AAC) Coach of the Year (2017) NCAA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year (2017) |
Renee Luers-Gillispie is an American college softball coach and a former college player. Luers-Gillispie is currently the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes softball team of the University of Iowa.[1]
Luers-Gillispie first attended Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she played for the softball team in 1981. After her freshman year, she transferred to West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas, where she was a three-year starter. As a player, she set nine career pitching records including most wins, most strikeouts and most saves at West Texas A&M.<ref name="ucfbio"/>
In 2005, Luers-Gillispie was inducted into the West Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame.
Luers-Gillispie began her coaching career at Joliet Junior College in 1991. She became the head coach at Bradley University in 1993, and was named to the same position at Texas Tech in 1996.[2]
In 2000, Luers-Gillispie was hired by UCF to start the Knights softball program.[3] The UCF softball team began play in 2002.[4] The Knights played their first games on February 2, losing the first contest 2–3 to Bethune–Cookman, and winning their second game against Arkansas, 6–5.[5] In 2005 and 2008, Luers-Gillispie led the Knights to conference tournament championships, and the program has appeared in the NCAA Tournament five times, in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014.[5] [6]
Gillispie and her husband, Mark, were married in 1983 and currently reside in Iowa City, Iowa.