Patti Raduenz will be the next head softball coach at North Carolina A&T, Director of Athletics Earl M. Hilton III announced on Monday. Raduenz is the fourth head coach in the N.C. A&T fastpitch era that dates back to 1994.
N.C. A&T Athletics will hold and meet and greet 11 a.m., Tuesday in the Moore Gymnasium Lounge to introduce Raduenz to Aggie Nation.
“Patti Raduenz will fit in well with our culture of academic and athletics excellence,” said Hilton. “She wants to win in the right way and brings a championship mentality to our softball program. She has a history of building competitive teams and a reputation for preparing young women for life after softball. North Carolina A&T has never won a MEAC softball championship. We believe coach Raduenz will help us reach that historic milestone. We are thrilled to have her join our family.”
Raduenz served 11 seasons (2001-11) as the Elon Phoenix’s head coach. The Phoenix won 25 or more games in seven of those seasons including four 30-win campaigns. Raduenz earned the 2002 Big South Coach of the Year, and in 2010 she led the Phoenix to the SoCon championship with a 38-21 record.
Raduenz comes to North Carolina A&T after serving as the director of women’s basketball operations at UNC Wilmington since July of 2017. Prior to working at UNCW, Raduenz spent six years as the director for Barefoot Basketball Camps. She also served two years as the Safe Routes to School Coordinator for Norfolk (Va.) Public Schools.
Before earning the head coaching position at Elon, Raduenz was an assistant softball coach at the University of North Carolina. She has also served as an assistant at California State-Sacramento and Iowa State.
Raduenz is a 1997 graduate of Michigan State. She was inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. She finished her career as the Spartans all-time leader with in batting average at .372. Raduenz earned All-Big 10 honors twice including her senior season where she hit a single-season school record .422 and second-team All-American honors.
Academically, she was a two-tie CoSIDA Academic All-American selection.
After starring at Michigan State, Raduenz played professional softball for three seasons with the Georgia Pride (1997) and Durham Dragons (1997-99) of the Women’s Pro Softball League. Raduenz was selected to the USA Baseball Women’s National Team in 2004. The team won the Gold Medal in the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and claimed the Silver Medal in the Women’s Baseball World Series in Japan.
