Linda Kalafatis enters her eighth season as the head coach at the College of Charleston after joining an exclusive group of coaches with 1,000 career wins during an abbreviated 2020 campaign.
Kalafatis owns a record of 1,007-633-2 in 31 seasons including a 199-158 mark with the Cougars. She reached the 1,000-win plateau on February 22, 2020 with a 1-0 victory over Appalachian State, becoming the 15th active coach (at the time) to achieve that milestone.
She came to Charleston after serving as the head coach at Ohio State for 16 years and also holding the top post at her alma mater, California University of Pennsylvania, and Akron.
Charleston has won 30 or more games four times under Kalafatis, and the Cougars have reached the CAA Tournament all six years in which the event has been held. The 2020 tournament was canceled as a result of Covid-19. In 2019 the Cougars extended their streak of consecutive appearances in CAA postseason play in dramatic fashion, sweeping a home series against UNCW on the final weekend of the regular season to leapfrog the Seahawks.
In 2017 the Cougars finished third in the CAA with a 12-9 conference record including a win over then-No. 11 James Madison. Charleston had one of the top offensive teams in school history, with its .303 batting average tied for the second-highest mark and its .432 slugging percentage topped only twice in the program’s previous 24 seasons.
Under her tutelage, Taylor DuPree earned all-conference honors for the fourth time in as many years while setting the school and CAA career hits record with 274.
Kalafatis gained her 900th college win on April 24, 2016 with a 3-2 victory over Towson. The Cougars finished that season with a record of 35-23, including a victory over No. 10 Georgia, and won two games at the CAA Tournament to reach the semifinals. That squad was led by a defense that recorded the highest percentage (.974) while making the fewest errors (42) in school history.
In her first season at Charleston, Kalafatis led the Cougars to a record of 40-16 for their fourth-highest win total ever and placed second in their inaugural season in the CAA with a 14-4 league mark. The pitching staff sparked the 2014 squad, finishing the year with an ERA of 2.20 and an opponent batting average of .244 while allowing only 151 runs.
Kalafatis became head coach at Ohio State in 1997 and guided the Buckeyes to a record of 537-359 (.599), holding school records for most wins and highest winning percentage in school history. Under her direction, Ohio State made six appearances in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Super Regionals in 2009.
The Buckeyes captured both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in 2007 and finished the year ranked in the Top 25 with a 40-18 record. Kalafatis picked up her second Big Ten Coach of the Year honor that season, joining her 2002 conference accolade when Ohio State won a school-record 55 times, and her teams won at least 30 games on 10 occasions.
In addition to her individual conference honor in 2007, Kalafatis and her staff were honored by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association as the regional coaching staff of the year. Kalafatis has also served the NFCA as a Division I representative, the chair of the DI Head Coaches Committee and as member of the executive board.
She has shown the ability to develop both the team and the student-athlete as Ohio State players were highly decorated during her tenure in Columbus. A total of nine Buckeyes earned All-America honors, and she coached a two Ohio State Female Athletes of the Year, a Big Ten Player of the Year, two Big Ten Freshmen of the Year and a pair of Academic All-Americans. Nine of her former players went on to careers in the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League.
Kalafatis began her head coaching career at California (Pa.) in 1989 and led the Vulcans to a record of 175-53-1 (.766) record in five seasons. The Division II power won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship each season and set the groundwork for a program that went on to win back-to-back national titles. Kalafatis was inducted into the the school’s hall of fame in 2001.
She gained her first Division I experience at Akron, spending three seasons with the Zips and posted a record of 96-63-1 (.603) from 1994-96. Two of her players earned Mid-America Conference Freshmen of the Year honors, and she recruited another who would go on to be named the 1997 MAC Player of the Year.
