“I want to thank Vince Otoupal and Megan Kennedy for this wonderful opportunity. I am very excited to be in a position to lead this program in a new direction,” Hubbard said. “We have a great group of young student-athletes eager to compete at a high level and who are willing to accept the challenges that lie ahead.”
Hubbard most recently served as KU’s hitting coach where helped lead the Jayhawks to a 31-20 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference standings with an 8-9 league clip. Prior to his stop in Lawrence, the new Wolverine head man helped guide the Ragin’ Cajuns to a pair of deep runs in the NCAA Tournament in both 2014 and 2015.
In 2015, Hubbard aided in Louisiana returning to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament. On the year, Louisiana hit .346, which was among the top 10 batting averages in the nation, while recording 116 home runs, 68 doubles and 398 RBIs. Hubbard assisted with the Ragin’ Cajuns offense that led the country in home runs per game (2.15) and finished the season second in scoring (8.15 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.652).
In his first season with the Ragin’ Cajuns, he helped the squad advance to their sixth Women’s College World Series with a 49-10-1 mark, sweeping the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles. In the NCAA Tournament, No. 6 Louisiana took down Texas Southern and Texas in the Lafayette Regional before defeating national power Arizona in the Lafayette Super Regional for its first trip to Oklahoma City since 2008.
At North Texas, Hubbard led a Mean Green program that became one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference before their departure following the 2013 season. He finished his career at North Texas with a 161-161-1 record, setting program records in both wins and winning percentage.
In his initial campaign leading North Texas (2008), Hubbard set a school-record 27 wins and helped his team to its best finish at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in program history. He would later break that record twice, winning 29 games in both 2010 and 2013.
Under his tutelage, 19 North Texas players were named All-Sun Belt, including a school-record three players in his final season. He coached 10 All-Sun Belt selections and one All-Central Region First Team selection (Mariza Martinez) in his six years at the head of the program.
Hubbard was named the head coach at North Texas in 2008, after serving the previous four years as an assistant coach for the Mean Green. Prior to his time at North Texas, he was an assistant coach at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma. As an assistant, he helped lead Seminole State to a 64-16 record in 2004, a NJCAA Region II championship and a third-place finish in the NJCAA National Championships.
A 2002 graduate of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Hubbard received a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and sports management. At OWU, he was a three-year letterwinner for the baseball team as a second baseman.
The Utah Valley Wolverines finished 9-43 overall last season and tied for fifth in the Western Athletic Conference standings with a 3-12 league record. The Wolverines will continue their fall exhibition season Friday at 6 p.m. at neighboring rival BYU.
