Fresno State’s Garza resigns as softball coach, ending 4-plus years with hometown school
Fresno State coach Linda Garza, who has been on leave from the softball program since April 9 and missed the Bulldogs’ run to a Mountain West championship and the NCAA Tournament, has turned in her resignation.
The team was informed in a virtual meeting with athletics director Terry Tumey late Tuesday afternoon.
“On the field, Fresno State is one of the storied programs on the West Coast, with the great honor of playing in Margie Wright Stadium,” Garza said, in a statement through the athletics department.
“The fans and the players are amazing. I would like to thank Terry Tumey for this leadership opportunity and all of those who worked with me and supported my vision and leadership. This program is set up for success and I wish the current and future Bulldog players the best.”
Garza was in the final year of a contract that ends June 30 with a base salary of $115,008 and academic and athletic performance bonuses tied to the annual Academic Progress Rate score and grade-point average of the program, regular-season winning percentage and conference success, participation in the NCAA Tournament, national rankings and individual coach of the year honors.
The Fresno native and graduate of Hoover High had the Bulldogs off to a 22-7 start this season and had won 10 of 11 games before stepping away suddenly before a Mountain West road trip to Colorado State.
Garza has not commented publicly since taking the leave and the Fresno State athletics department in April made only a brief statement: “Fresno State softball head coach Linda Garza has taken a leave of absence. Assistant coach Jodie Cox has been named interim head coach. No additional comments will be made at this time.”
Victories credited to interim coach
Garza led the Bulldogs’ program for 4 1/2 seasons and had a 146-77 record at the university. The victories while on leave were credited by the school to interim coach Jodie Cox, who had been the Bulldogs’ pitching coach.
Including stops at UC Riverside (115-104-1) and at Wright State (31-30-1), Garza has a career record of 291-211-2.
Fresno State is the third Mountain West program in the market for a new softball coach – Boise State coach Maggie Huffaker resigned in May and Nevada coach Josh Taylor left for a job at Louisiana Tech. San Diego State also was without a coach after Kathy Van Wyk retired after the season, but the Aztecs quickly elevated assistant coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz, who had been the coach in waiting.
Garza led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, her first season, but had to rebuild the program the following year after several key players left the program. Pitcher Kamalani Dung transferred to Cal and outfielder Morgan Howe to Arizona State to play for former Bulldogs’ coach Tricia Ford.
Dung was the Bulldogs top pitcher in 2017, going 26-15 with an ERA of 2.23 and Howe led the Bulldogs in hitting (.418) and slugging percentage (.621).
But Garza retooled quickly and Fresno State was off to a 21-4 start in 2020 when the season was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, recruiting key pieces in rebuilding a championship program in ace Hailey Dolcini, who was 22-5 with a 1.12 ERA, led the nation with 14 shutouts through the regular-season and was the Mountain West pitcher of the year and a Softball America All-American selection.
Outfielder McKenzie Wilson, who sat out this season due to an injury, was the conference freshman of the year in 2019 when hitting .393 with one home run, 20 RBI, 48 runs scored and a Mountain West-record 29 stolen bases.
A national search for a new coach will begin immediately.
“I would like to thank coach Garza for her contributions to Fresno State and for her work to uphold our Bulldog tradition of championships,” Tumey said. “She is a passionate coach who added another historic chapter to the legacy of our softball program and helped position us for success in the future. We wish her all the best.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 5:08 PM.