Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Kayla English enters her fifth season as an assistant coach with the Lady Muleriders and will continue serving as the team's pitching coach after directing one of the Great American Conference's top pitching staff's for the past four seasons. 

During Southern Arkansas' historic 2018 run to a third-place finish nationally, English commanded an SAU pitching staff that finished the campaign ranked seventh nationally in both ERA (1.76) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.80). At the end of the regular season which saw the Lady Muleriders win a program record 49 regular season games, English's staff posted regular season league-bests in ERA, opponent batting average, strikeouts, strikeouts looking, wins, and the fewest hits, runs, earned runs and walks allowed. 

Following the 71-game season, Southern Arkansas' staff owned a 1.77 team-ERA with 403 strikeouts in 462.2 innings pitched, while opponents hit just .220.

With English's direction, a pair of arms that were vital in Southern Arkansas' 2018 successes in Victoria Taylor and Brooke Ford-Nelson earned postseason honors with Taylor being named the GAC's Pitcher of the Year and a unanimous First-Team performer, while Ford-Nelson earned All-GAC Second-Team honors. Taylor went on to become a consensus All-America performer as well as a top ten finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year after a sensational sophomore campaign saw the right-hander win a program-record 33 games. 

In the 2017, the pitching staff posted the GAC's third-lowest team ERA (1.91) and under English's leadership, Kaylee Garner (Second-Team) and Taylor (Honorable Mention) claimed league postseason honors, while the pitching staff recorded 373 strikeouts to just 107 walks and added 46 wins, while opponents hit just .229 during the season. 

While on staff, English most recently received her Master of Science in Kinesiology/Coaching from Southern Arkansas University in December of 2018.

Prior to her coming to SAU, English was a Graduate Assistant softball coach at Midwestern State University. During her lone year at Midwestern State, English coached two first-team players, a pair of second-team players, and one third-team player. Midwestern’s pitching staff was ranked in the top five in strikeouts and batting average against within the Lone Star Conference. Along with her ability to coach a dominant pitching staff, English also has experience with recruiting successful pitchers to fit the needs of the program.

Before beginning her coaching career, English served as a notorious pitcher for the University of Dayton in which she spent all four years of her collegiate career. As a freshman, English held the lowest ERA on the team with a 2.55 and recorded 134 strikeouts in 140 innings pitched en route to being named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team. During her career, she was named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, 4-time All-Atlantic 10, and first-team All-Conference in 2015, while also being a 10-time conference pitcher of the week. English also logged Dayton’s first perfect game in 2015, and a no-hitter in 2014. A native of Grapevine, Texas holds the record for most strikeouts in a career at Dayton with 564.

Additionally, in her career English is third in wins with 53, and fourth in opponent batting average at .222. In her final year with the Dayton Flyers, English had her best statistical year as she recorded a 2.14 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 124 innings pitched en route to being named to the A-10 All-Conference Team.