Home Followup: UVA agrees to contract extension with softball coach Joanna Hardin
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Followup: UVA agrees to contract extension with softball coach Joanna Hardin

Chris Graham
joanna hardin uva softball
Photo: UVA Athletics

Following up on a column that I wrote last week on the UVA softball team, I learned today that the University has signed softball coach Joanna Hardin to an extension.

I don’t have the details, which should be out in the next few days, but from what I gather, this won’t be news that will necessarily be popular with everybody in the UVA softball community.

Hardin has a 139-197 record in her seven seasons leading the UVA softball program, with just two winning seasons – the past two, 28-26 in 2022 and 30-22 in 2023.

Hardin’s tenure has just one winning ACC season, in 2022, when her team finished 13-11 in ACC play, and have gone just 51-112 in the ACC in her seven seasons, 54-132 against Power 5 teams, and the 2023 team’s nice 30-22 overall mark included an 8-16 record in ACC play and a 9-21 mark against Power 5 schools.

Hardin has also yet to take a UVA team to the NCAA Tournament.

All of this despite the University putting some serious money toward softball.

Palmer Park, which opened in 2020, cost an estimated $19.4 million.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].