JoAnne Graf is an American former softball coach and Associate Professor in Sport Management at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

. As coach of the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

women's softball team from 1979 to 2008, she logged more wins than any coach in the history of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

softball. On April 2, 2005, Florida State University renamed their softball stadium in her honor as the

JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex is the home field for the Florida State Seminoles softball team: it is on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. History The Florida State Soccer/Softball Complex opened i ...

Education

Graf earned her Bachelor degree from

(FSU) in 1975. While earning her master's degree from the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...

in 1978, she spent two years as the assistant softball coach for the Greensboro Spartans. She completed her PhD at FSU in 1992.

Seminoles coaching career

Graf returned to

in 1979 to coach the

women's softball team. She recorded her first win on February 26, 1979 against Chipola College. Over her 30-year coaching career at Florida State from 1979 to 2008, she led the team to 7 College World Series Games, 17 NCAA tournaments, and 10 Atlantic Coast Conference titles. From 1995 until 2000, she coached the Seminoles to a record breaking six straight ACC Championship titles. By 2001, she had the most wins of any active coach in Division I softball and was awarded the Florida State Alumni Association Circle of Gold Award. On February 18, 2004, she became the second Division I coach, and third overall, to reach 1,000 wins. In honor of her achievements, Florida State University renamed the softball stadium

on April 2, 2005. In April 2006, she became the second NCAA Division 1 coach to reach 1,110 wins. By the time Graf retired in 2008, she had logged more wins than any other coach in the history of Division I softball, with a record of 1,437 wins. Her team had averaged 48 wins per year and produced 25 All-America players, which also earned her six ACC coach of the year awards. In 2013, she was inducted into Florida State University's Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was honored by Florida State University as a distinguished alumna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graf, JoAnne 1953 births Living people American softball coaches Softball coaches from Florida Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Florida State University alumni University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni