University of Texas Arlington Athletics

Peejay Brun has guided the Mavericks softball program to unprecedented heights since being named head coach on August 22, 2017.

Brun and the Mavericks are coming off a 17-34 season with a seventh-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. During regular season play, the Mavericks picked up an 8-3 win over No. 15 Louisiana in the three-game conference series.

Senior third baseman KJ Murphy was the lone Mav to be named First Team All-Conference with a .405 overall batting average. She also led the Sun Belt in batting average (.478) and on-base percentage (.526) in conference play alone. Murphy collected additional honors by being named to the NFCA All-Region and CoSIDA’s All-Academic team.  

The 2020 season was cut short for Brun and the Mavericks due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic as they finished with an overall record of 12-13. The Mavericks finished with the second-best fielding percentage in the Sun Belt (.974) and seven out of their 12 wins came against teams who finished in the Top 50 of the NCAA Women's Softball RPI - those victories included Texas A&M (twice), Western Kentucky, Troy (twice), McNeese and No. 21 Baylor.

Brun most recently led the Mavericks to a 36-27 record (17-10), a third-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference and the program’s first postseason title, capturing the 2019 Postseason NISC Championship. After the regular season wrapped up, the Mavericks were selected to the NISC tournament, winning the Nacogdoches Regional before advancing to Fort Collins, Colorado to compete in the championship round.  The Mavericks defeated Iowa State on a walk-off, 4-3, to capture the NISC Championship.

Postseason awards came at an all-time high in 2019 with Brun at the helm. Six Mavericks (Whitney Walton, Laura Curry, Randi Phillips, Reagan Wright, Aileen Garcia and Krista Rude) were named All-Conference – the second-most in the Sun Belt and the most in the program since 1987.

Walton and Curry continued to pick up awards well into the postseason, both being named to the NFCA All-Region Teams.  Curry finished the season as the NCAA leader in hits (91) – the first Maverick to ever lead the country in any category. Curry also became the second Maverick to garner All-America status, after being named to the Softball America All-American team.  Walton, meanwhile, became just the third Maverick to be selected to the Academic All-America team.

The impact that Brun had on UT Arlington was instant, as she guided the Mavericks to a 30-win campaign in 2018 on the way to the program's first-ever postseason regional title in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) with a win over Texas Tech in the Regional Final and an appearance in the NISC Championship Round. 

Brun saw two named to the NFCA All-Region team in Reagan Wright and Laura Curry. Under Brun's coaching at the plate, Wright shattered the program's all-time RBI record in becoming the first Maverick to knock more than 50 runs in during a season. Curry hit a blistering .355 batting average. 

Four Mavericks were selected to the league's all-conference teams in Brun's first season. Joining Wright and Curry were Sandra Mendoza and Randi Phillips.

Off the field, UTA was selected as an NFCA All-Academic team with eight being named NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes.

PRIOR TO UTA
Brun brought 19 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Mavericks program, including six as a head coach. Brun spent nine seasons as the assistant coach at Texas State University.

Brun came to UTA following one season in her second stint as an assistant at Texas State after serving as the head coach at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo for two years. She led UH Hilo to a 63-33-1 overall record, a 41-19-1 record in the PacWest Conference.

While at UH Hilo, Brun developed a NFCA All-America selection, eight all-league honorees and two all-region selection. Under her direction, 18 student-athletes earned All-PacWest academic honors and six were named NFCA Academic All-America.

From 2007-14, Brun spent her first stint with Texas State softball program as an assistant coach. In that time, Texas State won four Southland Conference regular season championships and three SLC tournament championships. While with the Bobcats, Brun helped develop more than 40 All-Conference players, 11 SLC Players of the Year and nine NFCA All-Region players.

In 2002, she landed her first heading coaching position, guiding Siena College for four seasons. She led the Saints to a number of program records and their first conference tournament appearance. She developed two all-region, nine all-conference, 14 all-academic and six NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes.

Prior to landing her first head coaching position at Siena, Brun was an assistant coach at California State University-Dominguez Hills, where she helped the team to a second-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

Brun also has experience beyond the NCAA level. In 2002 she coordinated softball for the RBI Organization in Los Angeles and in 2000 was the head coach of the Solvesborg Giant Ants in Solvesborg, Sweden. Brun also served as both an assistant softball coach (1996-97) and the head volleyball coach (1996-98) at Encinal High School in Alameda, Calif. She began her coaching career at Moanalula High School in Moanaluala, Hawaii (1994-95) as the head softball coach.

PLAYING CAREER
Brun played softball as an outfielder and catcher at the University of Hawai’i from 1989-94, earning second team All-Big West honors in 1994 as well as being named the NCAA Woman of the Year for Hawai’i.

Brun also played professionally with the San Jose Spitfires of the Ladies Professional Baseball League for two years, and where she was MVP of the 1997 league-championship team.

PERSONAL
Brun is a 1994 graduate of the University of Hawai'I, where she earned a degree in music.  While coaching at California State University-Dominguez Hills, Brun earned a master's degree in physical education administration.

THE BRUN FILE

Experience
UTA (2018-Present) – Head Coach
Texas State (2017) – Assistant Coach
UH Hilo (2015-16) – Head Coach
Texas State (2007-2014) – Assistant Coach
Siena (2002-06) – Head Coach
Cal State-Dominguez Hills (1998-2001) – Assistant Coach
RBI Organization (2002) – Softball Coordinator
Solvesborg Giant Ants (2000) – Head Coach
Encinal HS (1996-98) – Head Coach
Moanalula HS (1994-95) – Head Coach
 
NCAA Playing Career
University of Hawai’i (1989-94)
 
Education
California State University-Dominguez Hills: Master’s in Physical Education Administration (2002)
University of Hawai’i: Bachelor’s in Music (1994)
 

BRUN YEAR-BY-YEAR HEAD COLLEGIATE COACHING RECORD