Coaches

Renee Hicks

On Aug. 31, 2023, Union College announced Renee Hicks as the school’s new head softball coach. In addition to that role, she is the Associate Athletic Director, a Senior Women's Leader, and Title IX Compliance for Student-Athletes.


The Brandenburg, Ky., native has a long list of accolades that include being a Union College Athletics Hall of Famer and the all-time winningest softball coach at Bellarmine University in the school’s fast-pitch era.


Hicks enrolled at Union in 1988, and quickly became a two-sport standout for the Bulldogs as she played both basketball and softball.


Despite being a four-year letterwinner for the basketball team, it was the softball field where Hicks especially shined. As a four-year starter at shortstop, she earned three all-conference and all-region selections. In 1989 and 1991, the Bulldogs won the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) Championship.


She graduated from Union with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health in 1993, and earned a master’s degree in 1998 from the same program.


Hicks spent the following season as an assistant coach for the Union softball and women’s basketball programs. Following that, she spent two years as the head softball coach, head women’s basketball coach, and a physical education instructor at Lee’s College. She then returned to Union as the Bulldogs’ head softball coach from 1995-1999, while also serving as an assistant women's basketball coach.


Hicks then went on to spend four seasons as the head softball coach at Allegheny College. In that stretch, the program made the conference tournament three times. In 2002, Hicks was named the North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. In her four years at Allegheny, she was also an assistant women’s basketball coach.


Following her time at Allegheny, Hicks registered a highly successful near 20-year tenure at Bellarmine.


Bellarmine was a DII school when she arrived in 2003. Hicks led the Knights to the Midwest Regional in 2012 and 2014.


Hicks guided Bellarmine to 32 wins in 2012, which at the time was tied for second-most in school history.


The program’s second trip to the Midwest Regional occurred when Hicks led the Knights to a school record 37-win season in 2014 that featured 27 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) wins. Hicks and the Knights advanced all the way to the finals of the conference tourney. The team recorded 12-straight wins in March of that year.


A standout of the 2014 Bellarmine team is Ally Foster, who became the program’s first All-American. Foster received consensus first-team honors, while also being named conference player of the year. Foster received second-team All-American honors in 2016, and was inducted into the Bellarmine University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.


The Knights tallied a 32-16 record in 2015 with a 20-8 record in conference play. It marked the fourth-straight season that the program registered at least 20 conference wins. The 2015 campaign also marked the first time in program history that the Knights registered at least 30 wins in back-to-back seasons.


That streak was extended in 2016 when Bellarmine won 33 games. That 33-win season ranks third-most in school history. It was in this season that Hicks recorded her 500th career win as a collegiate softball coach.


Despite a 3-11 start to conference play in 2017, the Knights won 11 of their final 14 GLVC games as Hicks led the Knights to the conference tournament. They won two games in the tourney, which included a 4-0 victory over No. 6 Southern Indiana.


In 2021, Bellarmine moved to the DI level with Hicks as the head coach by joining the ASUN Conference.


During Hicks’ tenure as head coach at Bellarmine, there were 41 times when a player was named first, second, or third team all-conference.


"I'm excited to once again be the head coach at Union," Hicks said upon being named Union's head softball coach. "The team has been very welcoming. They've worked hard so far. They're excited to get to work."

Sarah Richardson