NAMPA, Idaho - Northwest Nazarene Director of Athletics Paul Rush has announced that longtime softball coach Rich Wagner has resigned from his position as head coach.

"We're incredibly grateful for Wags and his commitment to the softball program. He has built one of the most successful programs in our entire athletic department during the DII era. Not only has the program won conference championships and been consistently ranked as one of the top programs in the nation under Wags' leadership, but softball has also been one of the leaders in our athletic department in GPA, community service, and graduation rate. We have been blessed to have him leading the program and wish him the best as he steps away."
– Paul Rush, Northwest Nazarene Director of Athletics

Wagner ends his time as the longest tenured head coach at NNU after 14 years in the position. Wagner won over 300 games with the softball program and is the winningest coach in program history with five GNAC regular season championships and three GNAC tournament championships.

Wagner led the softball program to their first winning season in program history in 2018, going 31-23 overall and 19-9 in GNAC play, winning their first GNAC regular season and tournament championships while earning an NCAA Tournament berth. 

Wagner was no stranger to NNU as he was a member of the baseball team and graduated with a degree in political science in 1999. Shortly after his playing time, he served as an assistant coach for the baseball program from 2001 to 2005 while also coaching in the Boise Collegiate Summer League (BSL). 

He earned the Eldon Beer Baseball Award in 1995 as the top freshman player and was a second-team All-Cascade Collegiate Conference team member in both 1997 and 1998.

"Leading this program has been one of the greatest honors of my life." The true legacy of these 14 seasons is not measured in championships or wins, but in the 117 student-athletes who came through this program and helped build something special together. I am deeply grateful for the assistant coaches — specifically Hallie Swanson and Brittney Genuardi — who made years of personal sacrifices and selflessly poured themselves into this program, our players, and the culture we built together. I also want to thank Tim Onofrei for opening the door to my collegiate coaching career with NNU Baseball, Rich Sanders for taking a chance on a baseball guy wanting to enter the world of collegiate softball, and Kelli Lindley for mentoring me through that journey and helping shape me into the coach and leader I am today."
- Rich Wagner

The search for NNU's next head softball coach will begin immediately.