Eastern Illinois director of athletics Tom Michael has announced the hiring of Kristi Paulson as the Panthers 14th head softball coach in program history. Paulson will start with the program this week.
Paulson, a Mattoon, Illinois native and Eastern Illinois graduate, comes to the Panthers following a successful run as the head coach at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois. She had been hired this summer to lead the Lake Land College program in Mattoon before the EIU opportunity presented itself over the last two weeks.
Over the last four seasons the Parkland program has won 200 games making three runs into the NJCAA World Series. The program has posted a fifth-place finish, seventh place finish and ninth place finish at the national event over the last four seasons.
In addition, Paulson has coached at least one NJCAA All-American pitcher during each season leading the Parkland program with a total of six All-Americans.
She led the program to four straight MWAC Conference Championships, three NJCAA Region 24 Championships while being named the MWAC Coach of the Year four times.
"We are excited to welcome Kristi, her husband Dan and their family to the Eastern Illinois coaching family," said EIU Athletic Director Tom Michael. "Her success record on the field and in the classroom along with the reputation for building top notch championship student-athletes made her standout in the pool of candidates. We feel she can continue to build on the foundation of success that has been established and push the EIU softball program even farther."
"I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to coach at my alma mater. I would like to personally thank Tom Michael and EIU for entrusting me with the vision and future of the softball program," said Pauslon.
"I look forward to continuing to build upon the success and foundation that Tara (Archibald) has established here at EIU and keep this program competing for OVC championships and NCAA appearances. I am excited to continue bringing in exceptional young women to compete for championships on the field, while developing them to be champions in life."
Paulson played softball at Lake Land College before attending Eastern Illinois and earning her bachelor's degree in 2011. She is the co-founder and head softball coach of Premier Fastpitch Softball based in Mattoon which has earned both NFCA Region Coach of the Year awards and National Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
