Ken Eriksen

Eriksen in 2018
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	South Florida
Conference	AAC
Record	1,006–521–1 (.659)
Biographical details
Born	New York, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	South Florida
Playing career
1981–1984	South Florida
1986–1992	Clearwater Bombers
1993–1995	Larry Miller-Toyota
1996–1997	Tampa Smokers
Positions	Catcher, Pitcher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
College Softball
1989–1996	South Florida (asst.)
1997–present	South Florida
National Softball
2002–2011	Team USA Women's Softball (asst.)
2011–2021	Team USA Women's Softball
Head coaching record
Overall	1,181–543–1 (.685)
Tournaments	With South Florida: NCAA: 26–27 (.491) Conference: 23–24 (.489) With Team USA: Total record: 175–22 (.888)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As player: 2× Sun Belt Conference (1982 regular season and tournament) 1× ASA Men's Fastpitch (1997) As coach: With South Florida: 2× Conference USA (1997, 1998) 2× Big East (2008, 2013) 3× American Athletic Conference (2016, 2018, 2019) With Team USA: 2× ISF World Championship (2016, 2018) 6× World Cup of Softball (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019) 2× Pan American Games (2011, 2019)
Awards
As player: First-team All-world (1992) As coach: 3× American Athletic Conference coach of the year (2016, 2018, 2019)
Records
Winningest coach in University of South Florida history (all sports)
Medal record Player for Men'sSoftball at the Pan American Games 1991 Santiago Head Coach for Women'sSoftball Representingthe United States Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Team competition Head Coach forISF Women's World Championship 2012 Whitehorse 2014 Haarlem 2016 South Surrey 2018 Chiba Head Coach forWorld Cup of Softball 2011 Oklahoma City 2012 Oklahoma City 2013 Oklahoma City 2014 Irvine, CA 2015 Irvine, CA 2016 Oklahoma City 2017 Oklahoma City 2018 Irvine, CA 2019 Columbus, GA Head Coach forSoftball at the Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara 2015 Toronto 2019 Lima Assistant Coach for Women'sSoftball Representingthe United States Olympic Games 2004 Athens Team competition Assistant Coach forISF Women's World Championship 2002 Saskatoon 2010 Caracas Assistant Coach forWorld Cup of Softball 2005 Oklahoma City 2009 Oklahoma City 2010 Oklahoma City Assistant Coach forSoftball at the Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo

Ken Eriksen is an Americansoftball coach who is the current head coach of theUniversity of South Florida Bulls and former manager of theUnited States women's national softball team.^[1]

Eriksen graduated high school fromWard Melville High School inEast Setauket, New York. Eriksen attended theUniversity of South Florida where he was a member of theirbaseball team from 1981 to 1984.^[2] He graduated from USF in 1984 with a degree in political science. He later returned to South Florida to earn his master's degree in public administration.^[1]

While at USF, Eriksen played in five different positions, mainly as a pitcher and a catcher. He amassed a career .315 batting average and 2.48 ERA.^[1]

After graduating, Eriksen began playing fastpitch softball. In 1986 he was signed by the Clearwater Bombers of the American Softball Association, where he played until 1992. Eriksen also played for the Larry Miller-Toyota team of the ASA from 1993 to 1995 and the Tampa Smokers from 1996 to 1997, after which he retired from playing to become the head coach of USF softball. He also played for theUnited States men's national softball team where he won silver at the1991 Pan American Games.^[1]

Eriksen was named a First Team All-World catcher in 1992.^[1]

While still within a six-year stint with the Clearwater Bombers, Ken Eriksen became the assistant coach of his alma mater's softball team in 1989 under legendary coach Hildred Deese, who led the Bulls to back-to-back national championships in 1983 and 1984.^[3] After Deese retired, Eriksen took over as the second softball coach in USF history in 1997. Under his guide, the Bulls have won eight conference titles, made 15 NCAA tournament appearances, and aWomen's College World Series appearance in2012. Also during his time as coach, USF pitchers have thrown three perfect games and 19 no hitters (not including no hitters that were also perfect games).^[4] The Bulls have completed 16 seasons with 40 or more wins under Eriksen, including six seasons with 50 or more wins and one of those seasons coming with 60 or more wins.^[5] He became the 28th coach in NCAA Division I softball history to win 1,000 games on April 30, 2021, with pitcher Geogina Corrick throwing a no hitter in the win over conference foe ECU.^[6]

Eriksen was named as an assistant coach for the United States women's softball team in 2002. With him as an assistant, Team USA won gold medals at theISF Women's Softball World Championship twice,World Cup of Softball twice,Pan American Games once, andOlympic Games once. In 2011, Eriksen became the head coach of Team USA. Since he took over, the team has won gold medals at the ISF Women's Softball World Championship twice, World Cup of Softball six times, and Pan American Games twice.^[7]

• Living people
• American softball coaches
• South Florida Bulls baseball players
• South Florida Bulls softball coaches
• United States women's national softball team coaches

• CS1 errors: generic name
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2019
• Year of birth missing (living people)