Valerie Kaff enters her second season as the NKU softball pitching coach for the 2020 campaign. She was a former student-athlete at Michigan State and previously served as a student assistant on the Spartan staff.
The Norse are coming off their first winning season in the Horizon League, as their 12-11 record led to a No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Championship. NKU advanced to the semifinals, falling to eventual champion Detroit Mercy. With Kaff as the pitching coach, Taylor Ginther had the most successful campaign by a Norse hurler in the Division I era, recording 16 wins en route to All-Horizon League Second Team honors. Ginther is also the winningest overall D-I pitcher at NKU, with 25 career victories.
Kaff appeared in 69 games for the Spartans, making 35 starts with one shutout and one save during her career. The right-handed hurler, who was the 2013 Arizona Softball Gatorade Player of the Year, was sidelined due to injury in her junior season and saw limited action in the ensuing season, but continued to excel in the classroom as she was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
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Following her senior season, Kaff stayed on at Michigan State as a student coach and assisted the pitcher bullpens and instructions, coordinated social media for the team, and assisted with a variety of duties including pitcher bullpen instruction, game day operations, administrative tasks, travel coordination and pre-game offense preparation. Kaff also spent the year as a pitching instructor for Legacy Softball, advising athletes age 9-13 on the basics of pitching and their mechanics in order to improve their accuracy and speed.
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Kaff graduated from Michigan State in 2018 with a bachelor's in advertising. She was also an active volunteer during her time in East Lansing and is a member of Athletes in Action.
