COLUMBUS, Ohio – Kirin Kumar has been selected as the next head coach for the Ohio State softball program, Mike Penner, executive associate athletics director, announced today. Kumar comes to the Buckeyes after a highly successful four-year run as the head coach at Miami University. She will be the ninth head coach in program history.
"It's an honor to be chosen to lead the Ohio State softball program," said Kumar. "I'd like to thank Mike Penner [Executive Associate Athletics Director], Gene Smith [Senior Vice President and Athletics Director] and Ross Bjork [Senior Advisor for Intercollegiate Athletics] for this tremendous opportunity. My immediate sense during the interview process was that Ohio State is a place that truly combines elite athletics with world-class people. I can't wait to get started and build on the great tradition of excellence at Ohio State."
A two-time MAC Coach of the Year with the RedHawks, Kumar was 174-56-1 (.755) during her time in Oxford and won three MAC Tournament championships, four MAC regular season titles and led her team to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons. The RedHawks were 107-16 (.870) against MAC competition and also picked up non-conference wins over Tennessee, Georgia Tech (twice), South Carolina, Louisville (twice), Kentucky, California (three times) and Michigan.
"We're excited to welcome Kirin to the Buckeye family," said Penner. "What she did in a relatively short amount of time at Miami was remarkable. As we got to know her during this process, her passion for the game and for the student-athlete experience shined through. The future is bright under her leadership."
At Miami, Kumar coached 32 All-MAC honorees, 23 all-region awards, six All-America honorees, three MAC Freshman of the Year award winners and two MAC Player of the Year and one MAC Pitcher of the Year.Her teams also excelled in the classroom, capturing 33 Academic All-MAC accolades since 2021.
Kumar's 2024 team was powered by one of the most potent offenses in NCAA history. Miami hit 160 home runs – second-most in a single season in NCAA history – and scored 507 runs. The RedHawks led the nation in home runs, home runs per game (2.76), slugging percentage (.724) and scoring offense (8.7 runs per game) while finishing third in batting average (.348) and fourth in on-base percentage (.451).
Miami concluded the 2024 campaign with a program-record 49 wins and was ranked in the national polls for the first time in school history. Individually, Miami had eight NFCA All-Region honorees and two All-America selections. Karli Spaid, who led the nation with 36 home runs, fell just one home run shy of matching the NCAA record for home runs in a season and was one of 10 finalists for National Player of the Year by USA Softball. She ranks second in NCAA history with103 career home runs and went on to become the first Miami player ever to be drafted to play professional softball.
Miami's remarkable 2024 campaign also saw eight players earn first team All-MAC honors. The Redhawks took home four major individual awards as well, as they had the Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Freshman Pitcher of the Year. After winning the MAC Tournament for the third consecutive year, Miami played in the Knoxville Regional.
In 2023, Miami advanced to the Evanston Regional final, picking up NCAA Tournament wins over Eastern Illinois and Kentucky before falling to No. 12 Northwestern. Kumar and her staff were the NFCA Mideast Region Staff of the year in 2023. The year prior, in 2022, Miami finished 40-17-1 overall and 24-5 in conference play. The RedHawks also picked up a win in the NCAA Tournament over Saint Francis and dropped a heart-breaker to Virginia Tech, 5-4.
Miami went 46-10 overall and 36-2 in MAC play in Kumar's first year, both conference records at the time. For her efforts, she was named MAC Coach of the Year and her and her staff were named Mideast Region Staff of the Year in 2021.
Prior to taking over the Miami program, Kumar had assistant coaching stops at six different schools from 2006-2020. From 2019 through an abbreviated 2020 season, she was at Virginia Tech, where in 2019 she helped the Hokies earn an ACC regular-season title and Coastal Division crown. Working with the infielders, Kumar tutored two all-conference players, an ACC Freshman of the Year honoree and three NFCA all-region (Mid-Atlantic) selections. Under her tutelage, the Hokies had the fourth-best fielding percentage (.969) and committed only 47 errors, the fewest in school history.
Kumar came to Blacksburg following a two-year stint at NC State, assisting with hitting while also running the team's defense. She's also worked as an assistant in two different stints at Tulsa (2015-16 and 2006-10) as well as North Carolina (2011), Western Kentucky (2012-13) and Tennessee Tech (2014).
The Santa Ana, California native played collegiately at Georgia Tech and was a four-year letterwinner for the Yellow Jackets. Kumar saw action in 251 games, which was the second most in program history when she graduated. She was a part of Georgia Tech's first two ACC championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament all four years.
Kumar earned her bachelor's degree in business management with a minor in finance from Georgia Tech in 2005.
