 |
Gary Ferrin enters his 14th season as head coach of the LMU softball program. Ferrin, the most successful coach in the program's history, has a 464-340-1 career record as a head coach, earning conference coach of the year honors three times. Entering the 2008 campaign, the Lions have posted nine consecutive winning seasons and have three Pacific Coast Softball Conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances in the past five seasons. Prior to taking over the program in June 1995, he served as an assistant coach with the Lions during the 1994 season. Ferrin earned his 400th career victory as the Lions defeated the University of Pennsylvania, 8-0, in the very first game at Smith Field on March 7, 2006. In 2007, Ferrin's Lions completed their most successful season in program history, setting school records for most victories (47) and most conference victories (18) in a season. With a 47-18 overall record, the Lions rolled through the PCSC with an 18-2 mark to claim the program's third conference title. The conference awards came flooding in as Ferrin was named the PCSC Coach of the Year for the second time, Christine Foley was named the PCSC Player of the Year, Tiffany Pagano was the Pitcher of the Year, Melissa Dykema was the Freshman of the Year, and 10 players in all were named to the all-conference teams. The team's success led to a second NCAA Championships berth. After dropping the first game, 6-3 to UCLA, the Lions stormed back to beat those same Bruins 5-3, the first ever postseason victory in LMU history. LMU's historic run ended in the regional final but not before etching its name in the record books. Under Ferrin's tutelage, Foley set the school's single-season record for batting average at .416 and Margo Pineda completed her career with a new career batting average mark of .354. In 2005, Ferrin guided the Lions to their first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning their second PCSC Championship. That year, Ferrin earned PCSC Coach of the Year honors while LMU also claimed the PCSC Player of the Year award for the third straight year, and the PCSC Pitcher of the Year. Ferrin oversaw Loyola Marymount's inaugural year of competition as a member of the Pacific Coast Softball Conference and paced the Lions to the inaugural conference title. In addition, he was named the 2000 WAC Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches when LMU was an affiliate member of the Western Athletic Conference. Overall, he guided LMU to its eighth consecutive winning season, posting a 29-24 mark in 2006. In addition to that Ferrin has seen the Lions finish above .500 in 12 of their past 13 seasons. All told, he led the Lions to four WISL championships and the 2003 and 2005 PCSC titles. Ferrin came to LMU in 1994 after coaching and competing in national and international softball competitions for over 30 years. From 1964 to 1984, Ferrin participated in U.S. Military competition with the Air Force. He led his teams to the European Championships from 1976 through 1978 and to the World Championships both from 1972 through 1975 and from 1978 through 1984. During his military career, Ferrin played baseball for Team Real Madrid in 1974 and 1975. The team won the Spanish National Championship both seasons and represented Spain in the European Baseball Cup. Ferrin was born in Brooklyn, NY, and was raised in Orlando, FL. He graduated from Lyman High School in Orlando in 1962. He attended Orlando Junior College for two years prior to entering the Air Force in 1964. Ferrin and his wife Christine, have a daughter, Courtney Nichole (11), and a son Tyler (9). The Ferrins reside in Hawthorne. |
|||||||||||||
