The all-time hits leader at Oklahoma, head coach Kristin Vesely looks to leave her mark at UH in her first season at the program’s helm | Courtesy of UH Athletics
Taking over a collegiate program can be a daunting task for a first-time head coach. The ability to look back at personal experiences and past coaches is key to ensuring that the transition is smooth and successful.
For the first time since the program’s inception, the Cougar softball team has gone through a head coaching change, naming former Oklahoma star Kristin Vesely to the helm. As a first-time head coach, Vesely often looks back on her time as a successful collegiate player to help her wade through unknown terrain.
“Most days I think it helps because I know what it takes to be successful,” Vesely said. “I think that when you’re successful at something, you get to learn and work on the things that most people in college are still trying to do, so you get to experiment and implement some things that others won’t.”
While a player at Oklahoma University, Vesely learned under longtime Sooners head coach Patty Gasso. In 22 seasons at OU, Gasso has led the Sooners to three national championships and won over 77 percent of games played.
Gasso instilled a culture of professionalism and winning — a philosophy Vesely hopes to bring her Houston.
“Everything she has done in that program has been successful,” Vesely said. “Everything is about being a professional. Since day one when you walk in, she has it laid out. This is the way we do it and this is the way we win.”
As a player at Oklahoma, Vesely was wildly successful. She was named an All-American twice, while being All-Big 12 each of her four seasons. When she left, she was in the top 10 of 11 different offensive career record lists, including being the all-time leader in this with 293.
“Having coached her at Oklahoma and knowing what type of fierce competitor she is, I know she is the right fit for the University of Houston,” Gasso said of Vesely’s hiring. “She is gritty, an extremely hard worker and she knows the game. Her passion for the sport and her intensity will show through recruiting and preparation.”
It would take some time before she realized coaching was what she wanted to do, though. After being selected in the first round of the National Pro Fastpitch draft in 2006, Vesely played professionally for one season before working as a mortgage loan officer.
Although she had worked as a coach for a club team for four years, it wasn’t until she was given the opportunity to coach a high school team that she realized this is what she wanted to do.
“When I first started coaching little kids, it hindered me because softball came to me so naturally. I really had to learn how to break something down and teach it,” Vesely said. “I got the opportunity to coach a high school and realized this is what I want to do.”
Vesely joined the Cougars in 2011 as an assistant coach under former head coach Kyla Holas. In 2014, she was promoted to associate head coach, helping lead the Cougars to some of their highest offensive output in program history.
After Holas announced her resignation last May, Vesely was the top option to replace her, being named the second head coach in program history on June 10.
“I was in the car and I was talking to (Vice President of Athletics) Hunter (Yurachek), and I did a fist pump and said ‘Yes!’ before he even went over any part of the job,” Vesely said.
Now at the helm of the young program, Vesely got her first look at the team in the annual red and white series played last weekend.
The red team won the first two games, giving the coaches a good preview of what to expect heading into the first series of the season.
“It’s more of an excitement and anticipation of the unknown,” Vesely said. “We got to see a little bit of some of the things that happened last week. It’s an excitement like Christmas morning.”
Knowing what to do and having it translate to the field are two different things, though. Vesely’s six years as an assistant will help when it comes to transitioning to head coach.
Her experience has led her to have high expectations, not only of the team, but of herself heading into 2017.
“I have high expectations of myself, and one of my jobs is to find a way to win, whether we’re playing well that day or not,” Vesely said. “(With) any mistakes we make, we want to err on the side of aggressive, and as long as they’re doing that, win or lose, there’s not a day I’d be disappointed.”
