Coach Kimberly Dean joined UIW Athletics in July of 2021.
A 12-year coaching veteran, Dean spent the past four seasons as the head coach of the Georgia Southern Softball (GSU) program. In the 2021 season, Dean secured her 100th career collegiate head coach victory, improving her overall record to 103-77. Dean lead GSU to three Sun Belt Conference Tournament Qualifier appearances in her four years. In addition, under Dean the GSU softball program led the nation in community service hours in 2018, 2020, and 2021.
Prior to Georgia Southern, Dean served as the head coach for the Armstrong State University (ASU) Softball program. At ASU, Dean and her staff received the Coaching Staff of the Year award in 2017. In that year, they appeared in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, the Southeast Regional Tournament, and the National Semifinals.
Dean’s coaching career started at the University of Southern Indiana (USI), as the assistant coach for the Screaming Eagles from 2009-2016. During her seven years with USI, Dean helped led the team to four conference tournaments, three regional tournaments and an overall record of 209-167. While at USI, Dean assisted in all aspects of recruiting, practice planning and execution, scouting reports, and pitch calling. Dean also monitored the academics of a Southern Indiana program that featured 56 academic all-conference honorees, four CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees and two CoSIDA Academic All-America honorees.
During her time as a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (UWP), she was a two-time All-GLVC honoree and twice lead the team in batting average. After completing her four-year softball career at UWP, Dean spent one season as a student-assistant for the Rangers.
Dean earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Coaching from UWP in 2006. She went on to obtain a Master of Public Administration in 2012 from the University of Southern Indiana.