BERKELEY, Calif. – Former Arizona State associate head coach and pitching coach Chuck D’Arcy has been named assistant coach for the California softball team, head coach Diane Ninemire announced Thursday. D’Arcy joins the Golden Bears following a successful four-year tenure in Tempe in which he helped the Sun Devils to one national championship and three consecutive Women’s College World Series berths.
“Chuck D’Arcy is an absolute great fit for our program,” Ninemire said. “The wealth of experience and knowledge he brings as one of the top pitchers of all time as well as his experience as a coach on both the national and collegiate level will be a terrific asset for our players and our program.”
Under D’Arcy’s direction, Dallas Escobedo developed into a three-time NFCA All-American who led ASU to the WCWS as a freshman. Alongside Pac-12 standout Mackenzie Popescue, the duo became one of the nation’s top pitching tandems, combining for a 162-40 record. Each finished their senior seasons in the top 10 in the conference for earned run average.
“I’m tremendously excited about joining the Golden Bear staff and am looking forward to working with the staff and players and getting started as soon as possible,” D’Arcy said.
Before joining the Sun Devils, D’Arcy coached or played at nearly every level for USA Softball. He oversaw the pitching staff of the silver medal-winning U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He joined the national team staff in 2005, also leading Team USA to gold medals at the World Cup in 2006 and 2007, the 2007 Pan American games and the International Softball Federation World Championships in 2006. He served as an assistant coach for the 2002 and 2003 USA Softball Junior Women’s National teams, winning gold at the Pan Am Championship in 2002 and silver at the ISF Junior World Championship in 2003.
As a pitcher, D’Arcy compiled nearly 1,100 victories, more than 10,000 strikeouts and 62 no-hitters while holding an 0.85 ERA over a 30-year career that spanned four decades. He participated in 21 ASA Men’s Major National Championships and six USOC Olympic Sports Festivals. He was voted team captain by his USA Men’s National Team teammates for the 1983 Pan Am Games. D’Arcy was inducted into the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame in 1997. D’Arcy was hailed as one of Sacramento’s “Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century” by the Sacramento Bee.
D’Arcy will remain a legal counsel and compliance officer, a job he has held since 2007, for Advanced Workplace Strategies, Inc., a major company dealing with drug testing and background checks. Aside from his athletic career, D’Arcy served as a prosecutor for 28 years with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office. In 2004, he was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger as Chief Assistant Inspector General to the State of California. He was named the 1997 Prosecutor of the Year for Sacramento County by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and was Lincoln Law School’s Outstanding Professor of the Year in 1986.
