Brad Fuller knows this feeling all too well. He was at a restaurant with a group of guys when Jenny walked in with her buddies. And how did he handle it?
“I went home and added her on Facebook.”
It worked.
Jenny accepted the request and discovered she and Brad share a birthday and that they both love the Dallas Cowboys. That was 2011.
“And the rest is history,” Jenny said.
Pitt State is all the better for it. The married coaching duo has propelled the PSU softball program to among the best in the nation. As of Monday, April 15, the Gorillas are 42-4 overall and rank No. 9 in the nation.
Jenny, who was born in Germany and played softball at Baylor, is in her third year as head coach of Pitt State Softball. Brad is an assistant coach.
“I know it can sound kinda weird because some people probably can’t work very closely with their spouse,” Jenny said. “But for us, it works really well. It’s something we love to do, and we’re pretty good at it.”
A lot of their coaching success comes from trust and an understanding of their distinct roles. Jenny focuses primarily on pitching and defense, while Brad’s focus is mostly on hitting and offense.
“If we’re hitting well, I’m usually OK when we go home,” he half-joked.
It’s a coaching partnership that happened by accident and has held strong for nearly a decade.
“I got my first head coaching job at a school in Wisconsin,” Jenny said, “and during the season our assistant left abruptly. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do, so I asked Brad if he’d hop the fence and coach with me. It worked really well, and 10 years later, here we are.”
Coaching is intense, Brad said. Sports can be intense. That’s what the Fullers love about it. They love competition and strategy. And they love taking it on together.
“For us, I think it’s actually easier to work together because there is nobody I trust more than her,” Brad said. “So if she tells me something, good or bad, I know where she’s coming from. We get each other, and that really helps when you’re coaching together.”
“He knows me better than anyone,” Jenny said. “We read each other well, and we think about things in the same way. We know we can be honest with each other.”
They also talk about the game a lot. Like, a lot. Jenny said roughly 85 percent of all life conversations are about softball or sports of some kind. Their daughter Emma gets in on it, too. She’s kind of an informal, volunteer assistant coach.
“It’s what we love,” Jenny said. “We’ve always bonded over sports. It’s a family thing for us, and we’ve just accepted that this is our life. We really wouldn’t change it for anything. You can learn a lot about life in sports, and that’s the journey we’re on together.”
And there is no place they’d rather be today than Pittsburg State University.
“To be honest, this is an even better job than I imagined,” Jenny said. “When we were up in South Dakota, we had heard a little about Pitt State and the culture and facilities. But when we were lucky enough to get down here, we were blown away.
“The community is so supportive, there are gorillas everywhere, and it’s just a true college town. It’s such an awesome environment to be a part of.”
Brad said a big reason the softball program is so successful is that they’re able to recruit really great talent to this school and community.
“In college athletics, it’s all about recruiting,” he said. “Pitt State has so many great facilities that are wonderful for student-athletes, the campus is awesome, and the community is very supportive. When we bring kids in to check us out, they’re almost always blown away and surprised by the level we’re playing at here.”
And how do they respond to the coaches being married to each other?
“They actually seem to get a kick out of it,” Jenny said. “They have fun with it, especially with us having the same birthday. They think that’s pretty cool.
“I always remind them that Brad is three years older.”
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