Why record-breaking UK coach Rachel Lawson is making a major change before 18th season
Among the active coaches in Kentucky’s athletics department, few can rival the success of softball coach Rachel Lawson.
Lawson has taken the Wildcats to 15 consecutive NCAA tournaments with eight super regionals in that stretch. She led UK to its first College World Series appearance in 2014.
In 11 seasons before Lawson was hired, UK softball won just 37.4% of its games. In her 17 seasons in charge, the Wildcats have won 65.9% of their games.
So, it might come as some surprise that Lawson is planning a major change to her coaching style in advance of year No. 18 at Kentucky.
“I think I’ve done a very poor job coaching in like the post-COVID era,” Lawson said while choking back tears at the team’s preseason media day Wednesday. “And the reason I think I’ve done a bad job … it’s really hard to be loyal in today’s day and age.
“So, in my attempt to stay loyal to the people I recruited, the team took a step back. I’m no longer gonna be that girl.”
Kentucky was 20-4 overall and 2-1 in SEC play when the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 season early. Lawson and the Wildcats bounced back from that heartbreak with another stellar season in 2021, earning the right to host an NCAA Tournament regional for the fifth consecutive tournament and reaching a super regional for the fourth straight postseason.
While the program’s performance did not crater after the 43-16 2021 season, it did dip.
The Wildcats have not hosted an NCAA Tournament regional since. UK won its NCAA Tournament opener in each of the last three seasons before bowing out of the double-elimination regional with back-to-back losses. The last two seasons ended with losing records in SEC play.
Kentucky lost six of its last seven games in 2024, finishing the year 31-24 with an 8-16 SEC record. For the first time since 2012, UK was not ranked in the final coaches poll.
“I had to figure out, No. 1, that my loyalty is to the Big Blue Nation,” Lawson said. “My loyalty is to the University of Kentucky, and I have to make sure that I set the standards at this level. Any player who wants to live up to that standard is great, but there were players that I was allowing to live under the standard. They were being entirely too selfish.
“Last year, you really saw it come to a head, because I tried to make it mix, and I couldn’t.”
Looking back on the 2024 season with a year’s worth of hindsight, Lawson admits there were younger, more talented players she should have been playing more often instead of giving deference to veterans who had spent years in the program.
“In my attempt to be creative and to make it all work, to be loyal at the same time as to try to grow the program and keep up with the super teams, I did a really bad job,” Lawson said. “OK, so I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m going out, I’m recruiting bigger, stronger, faster players.
“If that means I have to look over players that … we spent a long time developing or we had, we’ve had to do that.”
It is likely no coincidence that the problems Lawson described came to a head as the challenges resulting from free transfers and name, image and likeness endorsement deals that have drawn so much focus in football and men’s basketball affected the non-revenue sports programs as well.
Players, and their parents, no longer allow the same flexibility they once did, Lawson said.
“The expectation is to win and to win now,” Lawson said. “So I’m focusing on what it takes to get back to the blue-color mentality.”
When what Lawson calls the “new look Wildcats,” open the 2025 season Friday against Pittsburgh in a tournament in Clearwater, Florida, fans might need quick access to the roster to keep track of all the new faces on the field.
Kentucky’s top five hitters from the 2025 season are gone, including Erin Coffel, UK’s career record holder in home runs and RBI. Ace Stephanie Schoonover must be replaced. Between Schoonover and pitcher Jaden Vickers, who also exhausted her eligibility, UK lost 68.8% of its innings pitched in 2024.
Nine of the 20 players on the 2025 roster are new to the program, including three transfers. While a roster rebuild was part of Lawson’s program reset, she also is expecting a change in mindset from several key returners.
Senior pitcher Alexia Lacatena, who pitched for Team Italy in the Tokyo Olympics before even enrolling in college, “is very different,” Lawson said, highlighting strides Lacatena had made both physically and mentally. First baseman Lauryn Borzilleri has embraced her role as team captain as Lawson pushes for a more team-oriented approach rather than relying on Coffel to carry the load.
“I think we all kind of have that mindset of being the alpha (in the lineup),” senior catcher Hallie Mitchell said. “We’re not just looking to one person to fill that role.”
Kentucky opens the season unranked in the coaches poll for the first time since 2013. The addition of softball powers Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC has only made Lawson’s job more difficult.
But she is clear that while 2025 might look like a rebuilding year on paper, the expectations have not changed.
“At the end of the day, we wanna win,” Ohio State transfer McKenzie Bump said. “And that’s however we have to make it happen.”
Lawson has been clear for years that simply reaching super regionals or the College World Series is no longer the goal for a program with as much recent success as Kentucky.
When a reporter pointed out she failed to mention reaching Oklahoma City, the annual site of the Women’s College World Series, in her opening statement and asked if that was a sign fans should lower their expectations this season, Lawson scoffed.
“Absolutely not,” she said before opening up about the shortcomings she saw in her own performance in recent seasons. “I mean, Oklahoma City is where you go. That’s what you do. I want to also win the SEC.
“... I think this team is actually going to be better than last year’s team, even though we don’t know anybody and we’re not returning (a lot). I actually think this team is gonna be very good, and I think somebody’s gonna be surprised. So either I’m gonna be very surprised — and that rarely happens — or the rest of the country is going to be very surprised.”
2025 Kentucky softball schedule
Home games in capital letters. All times Eastern. Additional broadcast details and game times to be announced later.
Feb. 7: Pittsburgh, 10 a.m. (Gamechanger)-1
Feb. 7: Notre Dame, 1 p.m. (Gamechanger)-1
Feb. 8: Morgan State, Noon (Gamechanger)-1
Feb. 8: Southern Mississippi, 3 p.m. (Gamechanger)-1
Feb. 9: Duke, 11 a.m. (Gamechanger)-1
Feb. 13: Wichita State, 11 a.m. (SEC Network)-2
Feb. 13: Virginia, 2 p.m. (ACC Network)-2
Feb. 14: Clemson, 1 p.m. (ESPN2)-2
Feb. 14: Oklahoma State, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)-2
Feb. 15: UCLA, Noon (ESPN+)-2
Feb. 21: Coastal Carolina, 11 a.m.-3
Feb. 21: Georgia Tech, 1:30 p.m.-3
Feb. 22: Memphis, Noon-3
Feb. 22: Georgia Tech, 3:30 p.m.-3
Feb. 23: Kennesaw State, 11 a.m.-3
Feb. 28: Evansville, 11 a.m.-4
Feb. 28: Western Kentucky, 4 p.m.-4
March 1: Tennessee Tech, 11 a.m.-4
March 1: Western Kentucky, 4 p.m.-4
March 2: Evansville, 11 a.m.-4
March 7: MISSOURI, 6:30 p.m.
March 8: MISSOURI, 2 p.m.
March 9: MISSOURI, 4:30 p.m.
March 12: VIRGINIA TECH, 5 p.m.
March 14: At LSU, 7 p.m.
March 15: At LSU, 6 p.m.
March 16: At LSU, 2 p.m.
March 18: DAYTON, 6 p.m.
March 19: At Bellarmine, 4 p.m.
March 21: MISSISSIPPI, 6 p.m.
March 22: MISSISSIPPI, 2 p.m.
March 23: MISSISSIPPI, 1 p.m.
March 25: STANFORD, 5 p.m.
March 28: At Arkansas, 7 p.m.
March 29: At Arkansas, 5 p.m.
March 30: At Arkansas, 1 p.m.
April 2: At Louisville, 8 p.m.
April 4: AUBURN, 6:30 p.m.
April 5: AUBURN, 2 p.m.
April 6: AUBURN, Noon
April 9: MARSHALL, 6 p.m.
April 12: Sacred Heart, 10 a.m.-5
April 12: At Boston University, 12:30 p.m.-5
April 13: At Boston University, Noon-5
April 15: WESTERN KENTUCKY, 6 p.m.
April 19: At South Carolina, TBA
April 20: At South Carolina, TBA
April 21: At South Carolina, 7 p.m.
April 23: At Eastern Kentucky, 6 p.m.
April 25: MISSISSIPPI STATE, 6 p.m.
April 26: MISSISSIPPI STATE, 4:30 p.m.
April 27: MISSISSIPPI STATE, 1 p.m.
April 29: NORTHERN KENTUCKY, 6 p.m.
May 1: At Texas, TBA
May 2: At Texas, TBA
May 3: At Texas, 2 p.m.
May 6-10: SEC Tournament-6
1-NFCA Lead-Off Classic at Clearwater, Fla.; 2-ESPN Shriners Children’s Invitational at Clearwater, Fla.; 3-I-75 Tournament at Atlanta; 4-Hilltopper Spring Fling at Bowling Green; 5-Boston Tournament at Boston, Mass.; 6-At Jack Turner Softball Stadium in Athens, Ga.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 11:00 AM.