Coaches

Kathleen Rodriguez

Kathleen Rodriguez began just her second year at the helm of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball program in 2023 where she extended her first-year success.


With a 24-23 record in the 2023 regular season, Rodriguez guided the Islanders to the program's first winning season since 2011. The team never possesd a losing record for more than a day on the year. It marked the second year in a row the team posted 20+ win seasons.


The team garnered 11 conference wins for the second year in a row. Rodriguez coached the Islanders to a 3-2 win over Lamar in the opening game of the SLC Tournament, the first time in program history the team won its tournament opener and advance through the winner's bracket.


Rodriguez developed All-Region selections each year on the Island in Pal Egan and Primrose Aholelei. In 2022, Egan was the first All-Region honoree the program saw since 2011.


In 2022, Rodriguez inherited a team that was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll after going 18-30 overall and 8-16 in conference in the 2021 season just five months prior to its first competition.


Rodriguez turned the program around to coach for 25 wins in 2022, the most wins in a season since 2011. The Islanders even went on a seven-game winning streak for the first time since 2011.


The team even notched two wins over a power-five school, including a 3-2 victory over Syracuse and a 2-1 decision over Baylor.


Rodriguez coached the softball team to a 11-7 record in conference play, winning every conference series except one. She led the Islanders to their first Southland Conference Tournament appearance since 2015 and went in as the No. 3 seed, the second highest seed in program history since being a part of the Southland Conference.


Under Rodriguez's direction, the Islanders notched two wins in the SLC Tournament, the first time the Islanders won a tournament game since 2012. A&M-Corpus Christi finished fourth upon completion of the tournament, improving from its sixth-seeded preseason poll standing.


Rodriguez was hired as the head softball coach for the Islanders in Oct. 2021.


A coaching veteran who has achieved success at all levels of college softball, Rodriguez arrived on the Island after five years as head coach at Trinity Valley Community College, which culminated in a Region XIV East tournament championship and NJCAA national tournament appearance in 2021.


Previously, Rodriguez spent 10 seasons as the head coach at UTEP where she started the program and holds the program record for total wins and wins in a season.


Kathleen and husband James Rodriguez were co-head coaches at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, N.M. from 2000-02, with Kathleen heading up the program during the 1998 season. Together they guided Eastern New Mexico to a fifth-place national showing in 2001. The Zias were Lone Star Conference South Division and South Central Regional Champions, earning them league coach of the year and regional coaching honors. Eastern New Mexico's team grade point average rated among the nation's top 20 Division II schools in each of their last three years at the school.


Prior to ENMU, they started up the softball program at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, leading the Mountaineers to the regional tournament in only their second year of existence. Kathleen began her coaching career as an assistant at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 1995.


A native of Santa Fe, N.M., Kathleen was a four-year starter for Saint Mary's University's national tournament team from 1991-94, playing catcher and third base. She was an All-State player at Santa Fe High School from 1988-90. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Exercise and Sports Science from St. Mary's University in San Antonio and a Master's degree in Human Performance and Leisure Sport from Eastern New Mexico University.


Kathleen and James have two sons, Ryan and Aryn and a daughter, Isabella.