Following the 2024 collegiate softball season Howard Dobson decided to step down after 13 years as an assistant (hitting) coach with LSU Softball. He helped lead the Tigers to four Women’s College World Series appearances and 12 NCAA tournament berths.
Dobson has had success everywhere he has coached. That includes as a member of Team USA where he coached several teams to international success, including a silver medal in the 2020 Olympics.
The 1991 West Orange-Stark grad was ready to slow down a little, especially with his son Trip beginning his baseball career with the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. He wanted to be able to see him play.
But an opportunity to coach a professional softball team in an up and coming league, was something he couldn’t pass up.
Dobson will be one of four coaches in the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League. A professional softball league that will tour the country looking to promote the sport and hopefully expand in the future.
“It’s a great opportunity and I’ll still be able to see my son play,” he said.
Besides Dobson they’ve brought in some legendary players like Cat Osterman, Lisa Fernandez, Jennie Finch, Jenny Dalton-Hill and Jessica Mendoza to be General Managers, Advisors, and Coaches.
And this isn’t the first time he’s helped start a program. He was a coach at the University of Houston when they started their softball program in 2000.
He will coach the Talons. Stacey Nuveman-Deniz will coach the Bandits, Alisa Goler, the Blaze, and Kelly Kretschman will be the head coach of the Volts.
The league put some thought into these names. The Talons are inspired by the Peregrine Falcon. The peregrine is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of up to 200mph while diving. The females of the species are larger and more dominant.
In its inaugural year, the league will feature four teams competing in a 30-game season with games in 6-8 different cities. They’ll have 15 on each team with a draft coming up soon. They have also signed a contract with ESPN for some of their games to be televised.
Dobson said, “The cities haven’t been officially announced but I’m hoping one of those visiting cities could be in Sulphur, La.” They’re scheduled to start in Chicago. The AUSL will become a city-based league beginning in 2026.
Dobson played baseball at Panola and finished at McNeese. After graduation he was asked to help coach a travel softball team. That lead him to him being offered a job to coach softball at Southeastern Louisiana.
“My life could’ve been completely different,” he said. “I had an offer at WOS after graduation to coach PE, JV football and varsity baseball and I was going to take it and then was offered the job at SLU. That’s also where I would meet my wife Katharine.”
And guess you could say the rest is history. Now he’s looking to make more history by bringing professional softball to the country.
-Gary Stelly, KOGT-
Social Media