After two years in Durango, Ashley Reeves is going to a familiar place.
The Fort Lewis College softball coach resigned Thursday after it was announced she would accept the head coaching position at another NCAA Division II institution of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.
Reeves spent three years coaching at the high school level at Harding Academy in the same town before she spent the next seven seasons as an assistant on the staff at Abilene Christian University.
“Ashley helped us become a more competitive softball program,” said FLC athletic director Brandon Leimbach. “At the end of day for her personally, she’s moving on to a place that is a better fit for her and her family. You can’t blame someone if that’s the case.”
Reeves’ first season at FLC was cut shot by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Skyhawks went 11-11 overal and 8-4 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play before the rest of the season was canceled.
This year, FLC went 20-23 overall and 19-17 in RMAC play to reach the conference tournament for the first time since 2014. FLC went 1-2 in the conference tournament to finish one win shy of the semifinals.
A standout player at Texas Tech University, Reeves, elevated the talent at FLC through recruiting.
Leimbach hopes to see that continue and some of Reeves’ 2021 recruiting class still come to FLC. The Skyhawks lost six seniors from last year’s team.
“She signed a ton of good talent for this upcoming year, and I reached out to them personally,” Leimbach said. “Although we were not anticipating a coaching change, it is part of college athletics. The good news is the timing gives us sufficient time to recruit a great leader who, hopefully, wants to be at Fort Lewis College long term.”
The next coach will be FLC’s third since 2016 and eighth in program history. Leimbach said a national search began immediately.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
