TEMPE, Ariz. -- Trisha Ford, who previously served as the head softball coach at Fresno State, has been named head coach of the Arizona State University softball program. Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director Ray Anderson announced the appointment Wednesday. 

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Ford takes over an illustrious Sun Devil program that lays claim to over 1,600 wins and four national championships. Ford led her Fresno State team to consecutive Mountain West Conference championships in each of the past two seasons as the defending MWC Coach of the Year and will serve as an assistant coach for the 2016 USA Softball Woman’s National Team this summer. 

“One of the greatest indicators of future success is what someone has accomplished in their past, and based on Trisha’s achievements, we anticipate she will bring great success to Sun Devil Athletics,” said Anderson. “She has elite expectations and recognized the innovative direction that Arizona State is heading. She has great energy and I believe our student-athletes will buy into her vision for the program.” 

Ford spent the previous four seasons at the helm of Fresno State after spending nine seasons at Stanford (2004-12), including four seasons as associate head coach.

She arrives with a record of mentoring and developing pitchers. In her 13 years at Fresno State and Stanford, where she served as the primary pitching coach, Ford’s pitching staffs posted sub-3.00 ERAs 11 times with four sub-2.00 campaigns.

Under Ford, Fresno State's offense ranked among the nation’s top 35 teams in batting average in each of the past two seasons and finished 19th in scoring in 2016. The Bulldog defense has been consistently ranked among the top-three fielding team’s in the MWC in Ford’s four seasons at the helm and finished in the top 35 nationally in fielding percentage in 2013 and 2014.

“The job at Arizona State is a great opportunity to coach an elite-level, Pac-12 softball program,” said Ford. “ASU has been a school I have followed closely and it has been a dream of mine to get the chance to coach here in Tempe. The team has such great student-athletes and I can’t wait for us to return the program to national prominence. I am also looking forward to getting out into the community, meeting our former players and getting to know such a loyal and passionate fan base. I would like to thank President Crow, Ray Anderson, Don Bocchi, Scottie Graham and Deanna Garner-Smith for this opportunity to bring home another NCAA Title to Arizona State.” 

After taking over the storied Bulldog softball program in June of 2012, Ford claimed her first conference title in 2015 and led Fresno State to back-to-back postseason campaigns. In Ford’s first season with the Bulldogs, Fresno State transitioned into the Mountain West. Since then she has built a record of 68-21 in conference play and an overall record of 142-71-1 (.667), including a record of 82-28-1 (.743) over the past two seasons.

The two-time defending Mountain West Coach of the Year (2015, 2016), Ford led her Bulldogs to consecutive 40-win campaigns in the past two years. That includes a 2016 campaign that saw Fresno State go 42-12-1 with an incredible 22-1 mark in MWC action. The Bulldogs went unbeaten through the month of April and recorded a then-nation-leading 23 game win streak, setting a new school record for consecutive victories.

After enjoying 14 weeks ranked in the nation's top 25, Fresno State closed out the 2016 regular season at No. 18 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 and No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Coaches Poll  – the highest final team ranking since the 2008 season. The 14 weeks in the rankings set a new Mountain West record, as Fresno State became the first MWC team to crack the rankings since 2012.

The Bulldogs registered four of the league's five postseason honors including Kierra Willis as the 2016 Mountain West Player of the Year, Jill Compton as the Pitcher of the Year, senior catcher Paige Gumz as the Defensive Player of the Year and Ford as the reigning Coach of the Year – becoming just the third coach in MWC history to repeat as Coach of the Year. Compton similarly was the third pitcher in league history to earn the award twice. 

Ford has been greatly involved with USA Softball as an assistant coach for the Junior National Team and will take her leadership skills back to the national level this summer as she joins the ranks of the USA Senior National team coaching staff. Last season, Ford helped lead the U.S. Junior Team to a gold-medal performance at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Junior Women’s World Championship. Ford guided Kelly Barnhill as she went the distance in the circle for Team USA, tossing 99 pitches and striking out 11, while allowing only one earned run against defending champion Japan. 

In 2013, the Americans went 8-1 in the event with its only loss in the tournament final to Japan en route to the silver medal at the International Softball Federation (ISF) X Jr. Women's World Championships with Ford on the staff. The U.S. pitchers did not allow a run in the first eight games that included one no hitter, five one-hitters and two, two-hitters, and overall sported a 0.45 ERA for the tourney with 61 strikeouts, three walks and 16 hits allowed in 46 innings.
In her nine years with the Cardinal prior to Fresno State, Ford helped guide Stanford to its greatest run in school history and a 385-155 (.713) overall record. The team advanced to the postseason in each of Ford’s nine seasons, making six Super Regionals and one Women's College World Series (2004) appearances, and ended the season ranked in the top 10 four times. 

At Stanford, Ford served as the primary pitching coach and worked with the infielders while also being responsible for recruiting, community outreach, camps and clinics. Ford helped the Cardinal average 43 wins per season and mentored three of the best hurlers in school history.

Ford oversaw the development of All-American pitchers Missy Penna and Dana Sorenson with Penna finishing her time at Stanford as a two-time All-American and the school record holder in wins (119), strikeouts (1,267), shutouts (50) and innings pitched (1,086.1) while finishing her career with a 1.84 ERA. 
Ford also worked with Teagan Gerhart during her latter seasons on ‘The Farm’, guiding Gerhart to top-four marks in career strikeouts and shutouts, a career 2.14 ERA, and 23 victories to help the Cardinal finish the season with a 40-19 record and a No. 20 national ranking. 

Prior to joining Stanford's coaching staff, Ford spent two seasons as the head coach at her alma mater - Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. Prior to being named head coach, Ford served as an assistant at Saint Mary's in 2001. 
Arguably the best softball player in Saint Mary's history, Ford, the former Trisha Dean, is the only female student-athlete in school history to have her number (9) retired.

In the spring of 2007, Ford was among six former athletes and coaches to be inducted into the Saint Mary's College Hall of Fame. Ford graduated from Saint Mary's with a degree in politics in 1999. A native of Fremont, Calif., she earned nine varsity letters in softball, volleyball and basketball during her prep career at American High School. An All-East Bay pick as a senior, Ford was also a four-time All-Mission Valley Athletic League selection.
Ford and her husband, Eddie, married in the summer of 2005, and have two children, Emma and EJ.

Press release provided by Arizona State Athletics