Gerald Dean Glasco Jr. (born October 29, 1958) is an American college softball coach who is currently head coach at

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and the

Women's Professional Fastpitch Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States. The new league began its promotional campaign in 2021 and launched its inaugural season in June 2022. The league is unrelated to the ...

team Smash It Sports Vipers. Previously, Glasco had been a high school softball coach, an assistant at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, and

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

head coach with the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride are a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida and a member of the WPF - Women's Professional Fastpitch League, U.S. Founded in 2009. They previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play ...

and

Scrap Yard Dawgs The Scrap Yard Fast Pitch was an independent women's professional softball team based in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston. Established in October 2015 as the Scrap Yard Dawgs, the team played in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) during the 20 ...

Early life and education

Glasco was born in 1958 in

Macomb, Illinois Macomb is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois, southwest of Galesburg. The city is about southwest of Peoria and south of the Quad Cities. A special census held in ...

. He attended high school at Crab Orchard High School where he lettered in baseball and basketball. He attended college at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

and earned a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Economics.

Coaching career

High school and travel ball (2000–2008)

From 2000 to 2004 and 2007 to 2008 at Johnston City High School in Johnston City, Illinois, Glasco was varsity assistant softball coach; he was also junior varsity head coach in 2008. During his time there, Glasco created the Illinois Southern Force 18U ASA team, for which he served as the head coach from 2002 to 2008. His team finished in the Top 20 four times at the ASA Gold Nationals and won the championship in 2004. That year, Glasco and his coaching staff were named the National Coaching Staff of the Year for travel softball teams by the NFCA.

College assistant (2009–2017)

Glasco started his collegiate career in softball at

as assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator from 2009 to 2011. During his time at Georgia, he brought his team to a 282–92 cumulative record, topping NCAA and SEC rankings in almost all offensive categories and setting over 20 team records. In 2012, Glasco was promoted to associate head coach, a position that he held until 2014. In 2014, Glasco joined

as associate head coach. In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the Aggies led the SEC in home run in regular season conference play. In 2017, the Aggies had their best SEC Conference finish ever with a 16–7 conference record and advanced to the Women's College World Series.

Louisiana (2018–present)

After firing former head coach Michael Lotief for alleged abusive conduct, the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

hired Glasco as head coach for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball team on November 20, 2017. At the time of his hire, Glasco had been associate head coach at Auburn. In his first season as head coach, Glasco led Louisiana to a 41–16 record, including a 3–2 record in the NCAA Tournament that had both a 5–4 upset win and loss in the regional final to host

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. The 2019 season ended in similar heartbreak after Louisiana defeated Southeast Missouri State and Ole Miss in the Oxford Regional to lose to Ole Miss 1–5 and force a game 7. In the game 7, the Cajuns would rally back from a 0–3 deficit to be 4–3, then eventually lose when Ole Miss would score 2 in the 7th inning. Following a shortened 2020 COVID-19 season, the Cajuns would repeat back-to-back as both conference regular season and tournament champions with appearances in the 2021 Baton Rouge Regionals and the 2022 Clemson Regionals.

Professional

Glasco has been a head coach with

(NPF) three times, first for

in 2014 then the

in 2017, and again for

in 2019. All three teams won the NPF's Cowles Cup championship. Glasco also currently serves as the head coach for the Smash It Sports Vipers, a team in the

league, an offspring of the NPF.

Head coaching record

The following table shows Glasco's record as a college head coach.

Personal life

Glasco is married to Vickie Glasco and has three daughters, all of whom have been involved in softball, including Tara Glasco Archibald who is Head Coach at Eastern Illinois University in

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are ...

since August 2019, and was formerly the assistant coach at

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

2017-2019. His daughter Erin Glasco Simons played softball at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. In 2019, Glasco's daughter Geri Ann Glasco, who had just been hired as a Volunteer Assistant Coach at Louisiana, was killed in a car accident in Lafayette, Louisiana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glasco, Gerry 1958 births Living people American softball coaches Softball coaches from Illinois Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball coaches Texas A&M Aggies softball coaches Georgia Bulldogs softball coaches University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences alumni People from Williamson County, Illinois