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.