ROCK HILL, S.C. – Windy Thees has been hired as the head coach for Winthrop softball, Winthrop director of athletics Dr. Ken Halpin announced Tuesday. Thees arrives in Rock Hill most recently from Utah State, where she served as associate head coach overseeing pitchers and catchers. Thees takes the helm of the program after the retirement of 29-year head coach Mark Cooke. Details on a formal introductory press conference for Thees, including date, time and location, will be announced soon.

"Windy impressed our hiring committee and me so deeply with her competitive spirit and her commitment to the comprehensive life development of her athletes," said Dr. Halpin. "She embodies everything we are striving to achieve today at Winthrop and we couldn't be more excited that she is joining our team."

Thees' 19-year coaching career includes 14 years as a head coach, including head coaching positions at Ole Miss, Memphis and Georgia College & State University. 

In her first season at Utah State in 2016, Thees helped the Aggies to a 26-25 record, the best team record seen since 1996. Thees helped improve the Aggies to a 33-18 overall record in 2017, including a 14-9 Mountain West league record. Overseeing the pitching staff, Thees led her group to a 3.09 ERA, the lowest by the Utah State pitchers since 1998. Kellie White led the position with a 2.51 individual ERA over 178.1 innings pitched, throwing her way to first-team all-Mountain West honors. The 2018 Aggies finished 18-34 with senior catcher Brina Buttacavoli named second-team All-Mountain West.

Thees joined the Aggies after three seasons as head coach at Ole Miss where she helped the team improve dramatically in several categories. The Rebels increased their win total in Thees' first two seasons and set numerous program records in 2013, including hits, walks, stolen bases and fielding percentage.

Thees arrived at Ole Miss after starting the Memphis Tigers' program from scratch in 2005 and led her squad to the school's best season in 2011 with a 36-14 record and the program's first berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers finished fourth in Conference USA in 2011 with a 15-7 mark in league play, which was the best conference record in school history. In non-conference play, Memphis knocked off eventual NCAA Tournament teams Kentucky and Stanford and reeled off a school-record 10-game winning streak. In her six seasons as head coach at Memphis, Thees coached her players to nine all-conference awards, eight all-conference freshman team selections and three NFCA All-South Region selections.

Before her move to Memphis, Thees was the head coach and Senior Woman Administrator at Georgia College and State University (Milledgeville, Ga.) for five seasons. She led the Division II school to a runner-up finish in the 2003 Division II National Championship. Her teams set nearly every pitching, defensive and offensive record at GCSU during her years as head coach, and in doing so, helped Thees compile a record of 163-92 (.639).

Thees was a four-year starter at both catcher and second base at Florida State from 1993-97, leading the Seminoles to three ACC Championships. She earned her bachelor's degree in marketing and multinational business from Florida State in 1997 and a master's degree in business administration from GCSU in 2002.

This summer, Thees will serve as the pitching coach on the Under-22 Great Britain Fastpitch National Team, set to compete in the Women's European Championship held in Slovakia July 23-28.