Former Utah State standout and Longwood assistant coach Jo Koons joined the UTA Softball coaching staff as an assistant coach on July 28, 2022.
Koons, Dill and company helped guide UTA to a quarterfinal appearance at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the Mavericks finished the season with an overall record of 23-24 and a 14-11 record in conference action.
Fifth year transfer Camille Corona exceeded all expectations since joining the Mavericks for her final year of eligibility. Corona's performance led to multiple postseason honors which included All-WAC First Team, All-WAC Defensive Team - Third Base, and NFCA All-Region - Third Team. Corona concluded the 2024 season with a team-high .401 batting average, 67 hits, 31 runs scored, a .463 on-base percentage and nine stolen bases. The Austin native finished with 19 multi-hit efforts including notable performances against then No. 14 Arkansas (Feb. 23) and No. 1 Oklahoma (Mar. 20).
Not only did the versatile player impact the Mavericks' offense, but on the field as well. The versatile player held her own at the hot corner, ending with a fielding percentage of .981. Across 56 games played, Corona committed just three errors making over 55 putouts and eight double plays.
In conference play alone, Corona ranked high in the WAC in multiple statistical batting categories which included batting average (4th, .443), on-base percentage (T-4th, .500) and hits (5th, 35).
Koons joined UTA following the 2022 season with the Longwood Lancers where she helped lead them to a 34-24 record. Prior to her time at Longwood, Koon spent two seasons with national powerhouse Oregon after a year coaching at her alma mater Utah State in 2019. The Chico, Calif., native began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Stanford in 2016 and has also held an assistant post at Colorado Christian (2017), along with a head coaching stint at Lassen College (2018).
This past year, Koons led Longwood to the Big South Championship Final before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Campbell. Entering the 2022 season, the Lancers had been winners of five of the past nine Big South championships – one of the winningest programs in Big South softball history. During her time in Farmville, Va., the former standout shortstop worked primarily with the defense and hitters. Koons helped coach 2022 Big South Freshman of the Year Jaden Pone, who tabbed a .416 batting average and recorded the 10th-most hits in the country with 79.
As a volunteer assistant at Oregon, Koons oversaw one of the nation’s best defensive units and produced back-to-back top-20 fielding percentage rankings in 2020 and 2021. Her 2020 group had the country’s 2nd-highest clip, committing just eight errors en route to a .986 percentage, while the 2021, 40-win squad posted a .977 percentage to finish 15th in the nation. Two of Koons’ infielders were named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, with the middle-infield duo of shortstop Alyssa Brito and second baseman Allee Bunker both earning spots on that 12-player squad.
Along with sharing primary defensive coaching duties with the Ducks, Koons also aided Oregon’s lineup to a .290 batting average with a .360 on-base percentage and a .459 slugging clip – all among the top five in the Pac-12 last season. Five Oregon players were named to the All-Pac-12 team, including former outfielder Haley Cruse who finished amidst the league’s top five in batting average, hits, doubles and stolen bases.
Koons dove into the coaching world immediately after graduating from Utah State in 2015, where she was a four-year starter who appeared in more than 200 games and started 198 of those. A utility player for the Aggies, she logged starts at all nine positions during her career and finished her tenure ranked among Utah State’s all-time top 10 with 10 career triples and 65 career walks. A two-year team captain, she ended her time in Logan making 110 consecutive starts in her final two seasons, including a 2015 campaign in which she tied for 4th on Utah State’s single-season lists with 36 runs and 26 walks.
Primarily a shortstop and top-of-the-lineup hitter, Koons hit .269 with a .340 on base percentage for her career. Her 65 walks compared with just 34 strikeouts in her four seasons, and she amassed more free passes than punchouts in each of her final three seasons.
Since her first coaching stop at Stanford in 2016, Koons’ student-athletes earned a number of academic recognitions. Among those were six All-Academic Pac-12 recognitions at Stanford in 2016, three All-Academic Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference picks at Colorado Christian in 2017 and six All-Academic Mountain West Conference honorees at Utah State in 2019.
Koons holds a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies from Utah State, which she earned in 2015, and a Master of Arts in organizational leadership, which she achieved at Colorado Christian in 2018.
