Nadia Taylor joins the Cougars after a season at Michigan State
Nadia Taylor will join the University of Houston Softball coaching staff for the upcoming season, Head Coach Kristin Vesely recently announced. In addition to a coaching stop at Michigan State, Taylor has a decorated professional playing career both in the states and internationally.
“I’m excited to add a fierce competitor with the knowledge and the passion to make an immediate impact on the program,” Vesely said. “With her success as a player in the Big 12 (Conference), her years of experience with development and with her having coached for a Power 5 program, I’m thrilled to name her as our next coach.”
Taylor, a four-year letterwinner at Texas, arrives at Houston following a year at Michigan State where she served as the team’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. In her year with the Spartans, she helped increase their top two returning hitters averages by an average of 46 points.
A native of Humble, Texas, Taylor continues to play professional softball. Currently playing with Athletes Unlimited, she’s signed to compete in both the 2023 AUX and Championship Seasons that run over the summer. In the 2022 season, she finished with 1,152 leaderboard points, starting in nine games. Overall, she’s tallied 4,258 leaderboard points and has hit five homers, driving home 18 runs.
“I’m super excited to be a part of the Houston program,” Taylor said. “My goal is to demand unyielding excellence of each student-athlete and continue to help grow them, but most importantly show them how to compete and win daily. The ultimate focus is to develop that eat or get eaten mentality day one.”
Prior to joining with Athletes Unlimited, Taylor played with both National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) and with the Minamo Softball League in Japan. A two-time All-NPF selection, she earned the Jennie Finch Award in 2018. In five seasons with the NPF, she played in 194 games, hitting 21 home runs with 81 RBIs. In 2017, she hit .321 with 30 hits in 50 games for the Texas Charge.
Taylor was a four-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region selection with the Longhorns from 2009-12, also earning All-Big 12 Conference recognitions in all four years, including a pair of First-Team accolades.
She currently ranks fourth in Texas history with 234 games played and boasted a .337 career average with 219 hits, 131 RBIs, 120 runs scored, 40 doubles and 32 home runs. Not only did she play four years of softball, she also played a season of basketball for Texas following her collegiate softball career.
Taylor graduated from Texas with a degree in kinesiology. Prior to joining Michigan State, she owned and operated NT88 Sports Performance, serving as an instructor and consultant for MiLB and MLB teams as well as 80-plus collegiate athletes.