BROOKINGS – South Dakota State's Krista Wood announced the hiring of Kristi Villar as assistant softball coach. Villar will join the Jackrabbit staff mid-July and bring more than nine years of collegiate coaching experience to the program.
"Coach Villar is a great addition to our coaching staff and will be working primarily with our hitters," Wood said. "She has had proven success as a collegiate softball coach and brings a wealth of knowledge to our program. As well, she was a great player with a strong background after learning from top tier coaches herself. We're very fortunate to have the opportunity to add her to our staff."
Villar spent the last seven years as head coach at Northern State, where she won more than 160 games while building a program that had previously never won more than 20 games before her arrival. The Oakdale, Minn., native won 20 or more games four times and helped the team to its first 30-win season while earning 2015 NSIC Coach of the Year honors.
"I would like to thank Coach Wood and the administration for giving me the opportunity to coach at South Dakota State University," Villar said. "I am excited to start working with the student-athletes and compete for a Summit League title. Go Jacks!"
While at Northern, she worked with the program's first all-region pick, five all-conference selections, five gold glove winners and an NSIC Newcomer of the Year.
Outside of the lines, Villar took an active role in improving the team's academic performances, raising the team grade point average by a full point (to a 3.8 in 2016-17) over her seven years while grooming 58 academic all-league awardees. Her team's GPA has ranked in the top five of NCAA Division II the last four years, as well.
Prior to NSU, she worked for two seasons (2007-09) as a graduate assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, where she helped the Mustangs to consecutive NSIC championships and worked with one All-American, three All-Region players and seven All-NSIC picks.
Villar taught and coached at Lennox High School during the 2009-10 academic year, assisting the girls' basketball and softball squads.
A standout shortstop at Augustana College, Villar played under NFCA Hall of Fame coach Sandy Jerstad for one season before continuing her stellar play under a new staff. She earned All-North Central Conference honors four times in her career and led the team in hitting as a junior and senior. She was the NCC Freshman of the Year in 2003 and was a two-time all-region performer. In her final season, she led the team to the NCC Conference Championship title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Villar earned her bachelor of arts in mathematics from Augustana in 2006 and a master's degree in educational leadership from SMSU in 2010.
What others are saying ...
• Sandy Jerstad, NFCA Hall of Fame Member (2000) and former Augustana College head softball coach
"First off, I don't think you could have hired anyone better for the position. Kristi brings a huge amount of intelligence to the game. She's a thinker and she's a very, very steady person. She's not going to get upset by little stuff, she's a really good communicator and she's very good with people, which I think is a key to successful coaching."
• Darren Mueller, North Dakota State head softball coach
"Coach Villar is a very respected teacher of the game and an excellent recruiter. She is a great addition to the Jackrabbit coaching staff."
• Lori Meyer, NFCA Hall of Fame Member (2013) and Minnesota State head softball coach
"As a veteran coach with seven years in the NSIC, she'll bring a lot of experience to South Dakota State. Kristi understands everything that goes into building a program, so she's going to bring expertise, she's going to bring a strong work ethic, she's going to bring the loyalty piece and knowledge of the game. Kristi Villar always was able to get the most out of her teams, taking the resources she had and getting her team to go out, compete, play hard and overachieve."
