Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Softball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- kenny.g@okstate.edu
- Phone:
- (405) 744-5883
- Twitter:
- @OSUcoachG
Since Kenny Gajewski took over the Oklahoma State softball program in June 2015, he has led the Cowgirls back into the national spotlight and molded his team into one of college softball’s most promising programs.
During each of his first four seasons at the helm, Gajewski (pronounced ‘GUY-eh-ski’) guided the Cowgirls to the NCAA Tournament. He has won 173 games during his first five years in Stillwater - tied for the most by a head coach during his or her first five seasons in program history. In 2020, he had his team poised to make another run to the Women’s College World Series after he led OSU back to the WCWS for the eighth time in school history in 2019.
Gajewski’s 173 wins and his spot at the top of the wins list after five seasons is a notable feat, especially considering his 2020 squad only got to play 24 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When you also consider that several of the OSU head coach’s wins have come against the nation’s toughest competition, it only strengthens the already-impressive nature of his team’s performance.Â
In recent years, Gajewski has shown his strength in the recruiting and transfer game, turning it into one of his biggest assets. Given his success at OSU and the atmosphere in the program, top-tier transfers have been attracted to Oklahoma State. In just the past three seasons, he has added notable stars including 2019 first-team all-ACC selection and ACC Pitcher of the Year Carrie Eberle, SEC sluggers Alysen Febrey and Jordan Doggett, Virginia standout Hayley Busby, and 2019 NFCA All-American Samantha Show. Gajewski has made OSU and Stillwater a destination sought out by the nation’s top talent and has catapulted the Cowgirls into the national spotlight.Â
Forty-five of Gajewski’s victories came during an incredible 2019 campaign that saw the Cowgirls finish second in the Big 12 for the second-straight year en route to their first WCWS appearance since 2011. OSU’s 45 victories were the program’s most since 1994, its eight postseason wins were the most in school history. The Cowgirls bested top-25 foes on 14 occasions – more than any other OSU team in the program’s rich history.Â
The Pokes finished the 2019 season at No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, marking the school’s highest standing in the national polls since finishing the 1998 season at No. 4.Â
During Gajewski’s first three seasons in charge, the program underwent immense growth to get back to the standards it once maintained during the reign of legendary coach Sandy Fischer. The 2016 team – Gajewski’s first – produced 32 wins, the 2017 team added 38 wins to its coach’s tally and the 2018 squad posted 39 victories on its résumé.
In conference play, the Cowgirls continue to be one of the Big 12’s rising powers, as they improved their standing in the league each season in Gajewski’s first four seasons.Â
Oklahoma State posted a 6-12 record and finished fifth in Gajewski’s first season at the helm, but the rate of improvement was astronomical over the next three seasons. The Pokes made their first leap in 2017 when they rattled off victories in 11 of their first 12 conference games and finished third behind Baylor and Oklahoma. In 2018, OSU took another step forward as the Cowgirls racked up 12 Big 12 victories and posted the program’s first top-two finish in the conference in 15 years.
The 2019 season was merely the next step in the progression and marked the best year of the Gajewski era to this point.Â
OSU secured 13 wins against Big 12 opponents in 2019 – the program’s best total since 2003 and finished second in the league for the second-straight year. The Big 12 finished as the No. 2 RPI league in the country at the season’s end, only adding to the impressive season that the Cowgirls produced in the conference.
Oklahoma State, for all its success on the field, continues to be among the best away from the diamond. The Cowgirls had 11 players named to the academic all-Big 12 first team in 2020, tying the program record for first team selections and marking the second time in the Gajewski era that this feat was accomplished. Fifty-three Cowgirls have been named to one of the academic all-Big 12 teams during Gajewski’s five seasons as head coach – the most of any team in the conference in that stretch.
The OSU head coach has also overseen three academic all-district and three Academic All-America honorees during his stint in Stillwater.
Gajewski’s tenure in Stillwater has helped reshape the program record books, as Oklahoma State has added 15 names to list of NFCA all-region honorees and 19 to its list of players to receive all-conference accolades. That group of elite talent includes two-time Big 12 Player of the Year Vanessa Shippy, 2019 NFCA All-American Samantha Show and four-time all-Big 12 honoree Madi Sue Montgomery.
Twice, Gajewski and his staff have been the one’s recognized by the NFCA, as Oklahoma State was named the Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year after both the 2017 and 2019 seasons. The 2017 season was highlighted by the program’s first top-three finish in the Big 12 since 2010 and a road shutout of No. 1 Florida during the NCAA Gainesville Regional in May. Meanwhile, the 2019 team picked up 11 victories over top-15 opponents, and met or surpassed a number of benchmarks for elite programs that the Cowgirls hadn’t touched in nearly 20 years.
While the last four seasons have been filled with whirlwinds of success for a program reborn, Gajewski’s inaugural Stillwater campaign wasn’t without its highlights either, as it was a year that saw him lead the Cowgirls back to the postseason for the first time since 2011. Under his leadership, OSU led the Big 12 in academic all-Big 12 selections, broke 11 school records and had its first player earn both Academic All-America and All-America honors since 2003 in Vanessa Shippy.
Shippy, under Gajewski’s watchful eye, also earned All-America and Academic All-America honors in 2017 and 2018, making her just the second Oklahoma State athlete, regardless of sport, to earn at least three All-America and Academic All-America honors.
OSU showed it was destined for a return to success early in Gajewski’s first season when OSU picked up a February win over No. 9 Washington in the Mary Nutter Classic, which was the program’s first win over a top-10 opponent since 2013. From there, the Cowgirls continued to build on their early success as they looked to restore the program to its winning ways.
Before coming to Oklahoma State, Gajewski coached alongside Tim Walton at Florida, where the Gators won back-to-back national championships in his final two years. In 2015, Florida posted top-25 NCAA marks in earned run average (1.63), scoring (6.55 runs per game) and on-base percentage (.438), in addition to leading the nation in the fielding percentage category. The Gators’ 60-7 record led the country in win-loss percentage and marked the second-highest win total in school history.Â
Prior to joining the Gators, Gajewski spent the 2011-12 season as the director of baseball operations at Tennessee. With the Volunteers, he was in charge of managing UT’s camps, overseeing student managers and handling the day-to-day operations of the baseball program. Gajewski’s roots trace back to the University of Oklahoma, however, as he played for the Sooner baseball squad in 1994 that won a national championship and earned him his first coaching stint as a graduate assistant the following season.
Gajewski then served as a volunteer assistant at Kansas State in 1996 before returning to Norman, where he would begin a 10-year stretch as the Sooners’ turf and maintenance director. In 2001, the field at OU’s L. Dale Mitchell Park was named the Beam Clay Baseball Diamond of the Year. That same season, the OU Softball Complex was presented the Field Maintenance Award by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and TURFACE sports field products.
From 2007 onward, Gajewski was the owner and operator of three Norman, Okla.-based turf businesses - Champions Athletic Turf (athletic field renovation), Sooner Curb and Border (decorative concrete) and Ameriturf MidSouth (synthetic turf), but has since moved on from the projects to fully invest in his coaching career.
A native of Los Alamitos, Calif., Gajewski is married to Rachel Fox Gajewski and has two children, Preston and Logan Gajewski.
