During a meeting held on Tuesday, the Board of Trustees for South Carolina announced the appointment of Ashley Chastain, a former Gamecocks pitcher, as the new head coach for the softball team. Chastain will be taking over from Beverly Smith, who was dismissed from her position after serving 14 years with the Gamecocks.
Chastain has been offered a five-year contract, extending until June 30, 2029, with an annual salary of $300,000.
Prior to this role, Chastain served as the head coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She becomes only the third coach in nearly four decades to lead the Gamecocks softball team. During her time as a player at South Carolina, she pitched in 15 games and had a 4-5 record, with an additional five appearances as a relief pitcher.
After transferring from Columbus State, Chastain played for South Carolina for three seasons, leading the team with a 3.05 ERA in her final year, 2011. She then worked as a graduate assistant for the team the following year before moving on to coaching positions at the College of Charleston and Michigan State. She joined the SEC in 2018 as a pitching coach for Ole Miss, where she received recognition as the Softball America Pitching Coach of the Year in 2019. Chastain took up her first head coaching role at UNC Charlotte in 2020, leading the team for four seasons before accepting the same position at South Carolina.
Mike Hill, the Director of Athletics at UNC Charlotte, commented on Chastain’s departure, noting her significant impact on the program’s success. Under her leadership, Charlotte’s softball team achieved its first national ranking in 2022 and secured its inaugural standalone regular-season conference championship in 2023. Additionally, the team earned its first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament that same year and claimed victories against ranked opponents such as Georgia, Virginia Tech, and Arizona State.
Director of Athletics Mike Hill releases a statement on the departure of Ashley Chastain. pic.twitter.com/omXJNBJSZ7
— Charlotte Softball (@CharlotteSB) June 11, 2024
During her tenure at UNC Charlotte, Chastain accumulated a record of 115-78 overall, with a conference record of 44-26, and led the team to two NCAA postseason appearances.
Former Gamecocks softball head coach Beverly Smith concluded her South Carolina career with an overall record of 461-323, including a 102-219 record in the SEC. Despite her achievements, her last game coaching the team ended in a loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament’s Durham, N.C. Regional.
