John Winters enters his first season with Upstate Softball after recently serving as the Assistant Coach at Furman University and Piedmont College.
In Winters' first season in Greenville, Furman, 20-32 overall and 8-9 in league play, exceeded preseason expectations by finishing third in the SoCon standings. Senior Riley Ludlam captured SoCon Player of the Year honors while first baseman Kiley Perry earned SoCon Freshman of the Year accolades. The duo were joined on the All-SoCon First Team by junior centerfielder Ashlee Lykins and freshman designated player Sylvia Burroughs.
During the 2022 season, Piedmont posted a 33-11 overall record, 15-1 conference mark and earned its second straight bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The Lions compiled a 93-43 record in Winters' four seasons at Piedmont.
In 2021, Winters helped guide a Piedmont offense that consistently produced runs and allowed the team to capture the USA South West Division Regular Season and USA South Tournament Championships. Winters helped junior outfielder Katelyn Perry take home USA South Player of the Year honors as well as earn a spot on the NFCA All-Atlantic Region Team.
The Lady Lions posted a 6-7 mark in 2020 during the COVID-19 shortened season with wins over the #3 and #13 teams in the country. Piedmont also had a player named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National DIII Player of the Week when Micaela Quesada went 7-for-16 (.438) for the tournament with three homers, four walks and 10 RBI. All three home runs came against NFCA top-13 teams in Christopher Newport, Rowan and Randolph-Macon.
Winters helped guide the Lady Lions to a 31-12 mark in 2019 including the team hosting its first NCAA Regional earning a regional finals appearance.
During his time at Francis Marion, Winters worked directly with the hitters, outfielders and base runners on development and fundamentals. In the 2018 seasons, Winters helped the team to an improved team batting average of .314 and produced a Peach Belt all-conference player.
Winters also identified and evaluated prospective student athletes while organizing recruiting visits, tours, and prospect camps.
The 2017 season was the greatest offensive statistical season in the program’s history as Winters helped lead the Wolves to a 29-24 record. Winters produced the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year and an additional first team all-conference selection.
Winters graduated from the University of Georgia in 2015 with a bachelor’s of science in Biology and earned his master’s of science in biology from the University of West Georgia in 2017.
A native of McDonough, Ga., Winters spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at the University of West Georgia He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at the University of West Georgia where he coached during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. At West Georgia, Winters led the infield and hitters and served as the third base coach during contests. and one season as an assistant at Francis Marion.
