By any measure, Kathy Welter has established herself as one of the premiere coaches in the history of NCAA Softball. Any doubt of that was erased in 2006 when she posted her 1,000th career victory, becoming just the eighth coach at any NCAA level ever to reach that plateau.
Entering the 2011 season, Welter has posted a 1,112-513-7 record. Welter collected win number 1,000 with a 15–0 victory over Sonoma State on April 29, 2006. Her 900th collegiate win came in a 7–3 victory at Sonoma State on Feb. 28, 2004. She wrapped up her DII resume by leading the ’Runners to a record 11th CCAA crown, and their fifth NCAA Division II West Region title in 2006. For good measure, she has three NCAA Division II titles under her belt.
’Runner fans have come to expect that type of effort from one of the game’s premiere coaches. She enters the season as the eighth winningest coach in NCAA history regardless of division. She left the Division II level ranked third in terms of victories (1,009) and is the winningest coach in CCAA history with 349 conference wins.
Such accomplishments are nothing new to Welter. She came to CSUB in the summer of 1985, inheriting a fledgling program that had struggled to a 10–21 record in its first year of existence. Welter guided her first squad to a 25–25 mark and helped build a solid foundation for a program that would flourish from that point forward.
After a 29–21 record and a second-place finish in the CCAA in 1987, Welter guided the ’Runners to three straight NCAA Division II national titles. Her squads swept the NCAA Western Regionals in straight games those years and posted NCAA tournament records of 7–1 (1988), 6–1 (’89) and 7–1 (’90).
The ‘Runners’ overall NCAA Tournament record (39–28 for a winning percentage of .582) is No. 2 among current Division II softball teams and the second-best mark on the books all-time for Division II.
Welter’s peers have recognized her strides with the CSUB program by honoring her as CCAA Coach of the Year (1992, ’93, ’96, ’98 and ’06), as NFCA West Region Coach of the Year (1988, ’90, ’94, ’98 and ’06) and as the NFCA National Coach of the Year (1988 and ’90).
Welter also enjoyed winning seasons at Texas Tech University where she coached for three years and compiled a 55-50 record. Under her tutelage, the team earned a No. 16 ranking in the NCAA Division I poll in 1985.
At Oklahoma Baptist, Welter took her team to a trio of playoff berths in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national tournament. Her squad posted a third-place finish at the 1982 NAIA National Championships. In three seasons, Welter’s teams went 84-39.
Interested in the direction and regulation of softball on the national level, Welter is a past member of the NCAA Softball Rules Committee, and is a former member of the All–American selection committee and NCAA Softball Committee.
As a competitor, Welter played for Kearney State—now known as the University of Nebraska, Kearney—and followed up her collegiate experience with two years in the Women’s Professional Softball Association and four years of Amateur Softball Association play. During that time, she competed in four Women’s Major ASA National Tournaments.
She is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame at both Kearney High School and UNK.
Welter earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1976 from Nebraska–Kearney and her master’s from Western Illinois in 1978.
