Samford hires Cassady to lead softball program

It was going to take nearly a perfect situation to pry Kimball Cassady away. And when that scenario presented itself, she said yes.

Cassady was announced as the new head softball coach at Samford University in July.

“I had always told myself that there was one job I would take and that was Samford,” she said. “It came open at the right time and it was by the grace of God that it worked out.”

Cassady, a Trussville native, moves to Samford after spending the last 11 seasons as the head coach at Birmingham-Southern College. In her time with the Panthers, Cassady’s teams posted a record of 319-126-1.

“Kimball is a proven winner and exceptional servant leader,” Samford athletic director Martin Newton said in a statement. “She understands the importance of building a culture of accountability while preparing our student-athletes for success on and off the field. I look forward to welcoming her to our athletics family.”

In the 2021 season, Birmingham-Southern finished with a record of 33-8 overall and a 12-2 mark in Southern Athletic Association play. The team won the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional title, and reached the semifinals of the Division III Women’s College World Series. The team also won a second-straight SAA Tournament and regular season title, finishing the season ranked fourth in the nation.

“That’s the ultimate goal, you want to have a winning program, and we were very fortunate over there to have the facilities and the support,” Cassady said. “That was the first time in BSC history we’d ever been there.”

She’s got big plans for the Samford program, notably winning a lot of games and doing it with plenty of local players.

“There’s a lot of history here and we truly believe there’s a lot of talent here in the state of Alabama, and we believed we can do a lot of heavy recruiting here. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be winning 40 games a year here,” she said.

Cassady seems to do nothing halfway. She was an All-American at Hewitt-Trussville High School, then starred at Auburn from 1998-2001 and was a two-year team captain. She spent a year at Auburn as a student assistant, was an assistant at BSC for three years and was the head coach at Clay-Chalkville High School before taking the BSC head coaching job.

“We preach having a very disciplined team,” she said. “Everything is disciplined, from the way we wear our uniforms, to tucking our shirts in, to cleaning our shoes, to how we sit at the dinner table. If you take care of the little things, then the big things take care of themselves.”

The hope for the Bulldogs is that they are a disciplined, well-rounded team under Cassady. One of the people she trusts to help instill that is Jeff Gillespie, who she brought with her from BSC as an assistant coach.

“He brings a lot to the table, especially with recruiting,” she said. “He knows everybody and brings a wealth of knowledge. It was a no-brainer.”

The opportunity to coach at a Christian university is also something Cassady considers a big deal.

“At Samford, it gives us the opportunity to speak our faith. We believe winning is important and fun but in the long run, it’s like a mission field,” she said.