John Richard Rittman (born October 5, 1963) is an American

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

coach, serving as the inaugural head coach of the Clemson Tigers softball team. He previously served as head coach at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and an assistant with USA Softball, Kansas, Washington, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Education

An outfielder, Rittman played college baseball at Yavapai College before transferring to New Mexico State University and playing three seasons there from 1983 to 1985. As a junior in 1984, Rittman played 51 games and batted .338 with 50 hits, 27 RBI, and one homer. Rittman graduated from New Mexico State in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (1988–1996)

Rittman was an assistant softball coach at Oregon from 1988 to 1990, Minnesota from 1991 to 1992, and Washington from 1993 to 1996, during which Oregon advanced to the

1989 Women's College World Series The 1989 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the eighth annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1989, twenty Division I college softball teams contested the championship. The ...

and Minnesota won the 1992 Big Ten Conference title. Joining the inaugural Washington coaching staff in 1993, Rittman helped Washington win the 1996

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

title and advance to the championship game of the

1996 Women's College World Series The 1996 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the fifteenth annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1996, thirty-two Division I college softball teams contested the champions ...

Stanford (1997–2014)

In July 1996, Rittman became head coach at

, a program that became a varsity sport in the 1994 season. As head coach from 1997 to 2014, Rittman had a cumulative 750–351–3 record and one

title in 2005, with 16 consecutive NCAA Division I Softball Championship appearances from 1998 to 2013, five Super Regionals, and two Women's College World Series berths in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. At Stanford, Rittman coached several players who went on to play for the U.S. national women's softball team or elsewhere professionally, including

Jessica Allister Jessica Lynne Allister (born October 7, 1982) is an American softball coach and former catcher who is the current head coach at Stanford. Allister played college softball at Stanford and earned second-team All-American honors in her senior season ...

Ashley Hansen Ashley Hansen (born 3 March 1983) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL), and has been an assistant coach in the AFL since 2013. Playing career Wes ...

, Lauren Lappin, and Jessica Mendoza. Mendoza and another Stanford player under Rittman, Ramona Shelburne, later became broadcasters for ESPN. Allister played two seasons in National Pro Fastpitch before returning to Stanford as an assistant coach under Rittman from 2007 to 2009 and becoming head coach at Stanford from 2018. Rittman resigned from Stanford on June 2, 2014 after the team finished 5–19 in

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

games that season. His resignation was surrounded by controversy and findings of a major NCAA rules violation.

Kansas and USA Softball (2015–2017)

He then spent two seasons at Kansas as associate head coach in 2015 and 2017, and also two stints as an assistant with USA Softball.

Clemson (2017–present)

On November 3, 2017, Rittman was named the inaugural head coach at Clemson. They played their first season in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Head coaching record

Sources:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rittman, John 1963 births Living people Clemson Tigers softball coaches Kansas Jayhawks softball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers softball coaches New Mexico State Aggies baseball players Oregon Ducks softball coaches Stanford Cardinal softball coaches Washington Huskies softball coaches Yavapai Roughriders baseball players American softball coaches United States women's national softball team coaches