The new head coach of South Carolina softball is seeking to unite the team after bringing over four new coaches and six transfer players from her previous team, UNC Charlotte.
On June 11, Ashley Chastain took the head coaching job at her alma mater after spending four years with Charlotte. The 49ers never finished below .500 in conference play and won 60% of their games each season during her tenure.
Chastain is looking to bring this winning culture from Charlotte to a South Carolina program that struggled in conference play over the last few years. The Gamecocks finished 8-16 in against conference opponents last season, its sixth consecutive season with a losing SEC record.
The Gamecocks currently have eight returning players from last season and six high school recruits on its roster, Chastain said. She is also bringing in six transfer players and an entirely new coaching staff from her previous job to Columbia.
All four new coaches have spent numerous years working in SEC programs before working under Chastain at Charlotte. Katie Browder will serve as associate head coach, Jodi Davidson and C.J. Leighton will act as assistant coaches and Sidney Kane rounds out the staff as director of operations.
The staff hopes to work together to mesh these returning players, recruits and incoming transfers as South Carolina prepares to debut its new-look roster.
“(The transfers) are obviously really comfortable with our staff and the way that we operate in our processes and our systems,” Chastain said. “Now, what I don't want is when we start in the fall for it to feel like we have the older players from Carolina and the new Charlotte players. I don't want it to feel segmented, and we're going to work hard to make sure that we create one group and unify the entire team from the first day that we're together in the fall.”
Davidson said he is confident Chastain has selected the right people for the job to help unify the team.
“I think that we're going to bring more than just more talented players and things like that is just the camaraderie and an environment that players want to play in,” Davidson said. “At the end of the day, I think happy people are successful people. And I think that Ashley breeds that in all of our players, and that's kind of her bread and butter, bringing good people together to do great things.”
Chastain said she knew the players who decided to transfer to South Carolina would have no problem making the switch from Conference USA to the SEC. Charlotte consistently had one of the top strength of non-conference schedules by playing SEC teams regularly, Chastain said.
She added that part of Charlotte's success had to do with its ability to compete against any high-level team with confidence.
“When I got the job, we went out, and we just wanted to find the right players for the program. We didn't necessarily seek out and say we're going to bring all these Charlotte players with us,” Chastain said. “I think that what I do know about those players is I have a lot of trust in them. I have a lot of experience with them. I would have never brought them here if I didn't believe that they could not compete at this level.”
One of those transfers is junior utility player Arianna Rodi. Rodi was an All-American and one of the 49ers' most consistent performers on offense.
Rodi said coming to South Carolina is going to push her even harder than before as she adjusts to a new conference and team.
“I have that giddy feeling like I'm a freshman all over again,” Rodi said. “I'm excited more as a personal growth because I was at Charlotte for two years, I kind of got comfortable with everything. This is more like a challenge for myself to push myself out of my comfort zone a little bit, so I'm excited for that challenge.”
Rodi added that the transition for the Charlotte players would be different because of their dominance in Conference USA, as well as the fact that she and her teammates will have to learn how to play “right in the heart” of the conference.
Davidson said he recognized that, along with transfer players acclimating to a new environment, it would be a challenge to unite the team and build up returning players at South Carolina.
“I don't think it's going to be that big of a burden to overcome simply because I know the people we have in the program right now are fantastic people, even the ones we have returning from Carolina last year it's a good group,” Davidson said. “I mean, we've got leadership, we've got some seniors that are chomping at the bit to go and do some special things, and I think it would be a disservice to them, especially because of the time they put here at Carolina to not drive forward in a way that we can all be successful.”
When South Carolina debuts a new-look team next spring, it will look to avenge its past woes in conference and post-season play. Chastain said she hopes to restore her alma mater to its former glory.
“The program is filled with so much history and tradition in the SEC... It just has such a support system of alumni behind it that want to see it succeed,” Chastain said. “I think that bringing everyone on that same page that this is a place where we can win championships and softball is going to be huge, but that's not going to happen overnight. It's a mindset that you slowly instill every day... It's the way that you go about everything that we do.”