Tina Phillips, in her 18th season coaching the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team, recently hit a career milestone recently, winning her 300th game during a doubleheader sweep of Alfred State.
Phillips is the second coach in Pitt-Bradford’s NCAA history to win 300 games with one program.
“Three hundred wins means I have had a lot of really good players and teams,” Phillips said. “I feel as if we have built something pretty special here that the past, present and future players want to be a part of.”
She joins Bret Butler, current athletic director and former baseball coach, as coaches to reach this milestone at Pitt-Bradford.
“I am so happy for Tina and this wonderful milestone in her already very successful career,” Butler said. “Winning 300 games is quite an accomplishment, and it’s proof of doing things the right way for a long time. She is an exemplary coach and teacher of the game, a wonderful colleague and a real salt-of-the-earth person.”
Phillips joined Pitt-Bradford before the 2003-04 academic year to lead the university’s softball and women’s volleyball programs.
“I came to Pitt-Bradford because it brought me back closer to home in upstate New York and also because it was an opportunity to coach again,” Phillips said.
Phillips began her softball coaching career at Russell Sage College between 1996 and 2000. She moved into administrative and fundraising positions as she worked toward obtaining a master’s degree in athletic administration at Springfield College.
While at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Phillips was asked to help out with the softball team as an assistant. That season, the team won its first conference title and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
“That experience got my competitive juices going and I realized how much I missed the sport as well as being around the student-athletes on a daily basis,” she said.
On the field, Phillips’s teams have won five AMCC tournament titles: four with the softball program and one with volleyball. Phillips has been named AMCC Coach of the Year three times and coached six players to individual AMCC Player or Newcomer of the Year honors, with many more earning All-Conference or All-Region awards. She has accumulated 461 wins in her 18 years in Bradford, the most by any coach since the university joined the NCAA.
In addition to athletic awards, Phillips teams have received numerous team and individual academic awards and been recognized for their commitment to community service, all while creating long-lasting relationships with her players.
“I have had a lot of special moments in coaching, but seeing my players succeed on and off the field and keeping those close relationships after they graduate is what I cherish the most,” Phillips said.
Her alumni and current players echoed that sentiment.
“A good coach can change the game, and a great coach can change a life,” said Heidi Lucke, an athletic trainer at Pitt-Bradford who played on the softball team for four years. “Tina definitely changed my life for the better.”
Senior pitcher Jordan Uhing emphasized Phillips’ commitment to holistic, caring student-athlete development.
“Coach cares about all of her players very deeply and wants to see us be successful on the field, in the classroom and in our future careers,” she said. “She really takes the time to get to know all of us and our families on a personal level and truly treats us like her own.”
In addition to her duties as softball coach, Phillips also serves the athletics department as assistant athletic director, senior women’s administrator and compliance coordinator.
“I am really proud of what we have accomplished as a program in terms of on-field success and the development of our student-athletes,” Phillips said. “But don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind a few more championships before I’m done.”
