OSU Softball Names Aaron Vail Assistant Coach
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State softball team has hired Aaron Vail as its new assistant coach, head coach Laura Berg announced on Tuesday.
“Aaron brings a lot of great experience to the table,” Berg said. “He has great knowledge of the game, and the fact that he still playing as an athlete allows him to really relate well to the players. I know he will do very well here.”
Entering his first year as an assistant coach for the Beavers, Vail joins the staff with 14 years of coaching, operations, management and playing experience at the collegiate, high school and club levels.
“My family and I are truly humbled and thankful for the opportunity to join Beaver Nation,” Vail said. “Corvallis is truly a special place and we are blessed to now call this place home.”
Since 2014, Vail has owned and operated Aaron Vail Fastpitch, LLC, an instructional business in St. Paul, Minn. that utilized camps, clinics, speed and agility training and mental training, among other programs, with a goal of developing fastpitch softball athletes on and off the field.
In 2015, Vail also served as the Director of Softball Operations at S&C Sports Services in St. Paul Park, Minn., a position he also held from 2010-13. Vail was directly responsible for the operations and scheduling for five fastpich softball dome leagues that competed in the Irish Sports Dome in Rosemount, Minn. Among other duties, Vail also managed and coached the local intermediate and elite-level youth fastpitch athletes.
Vail’s most recent collegiate coaching experience came at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where he served as assistant softball coach in 2013-14, instructing athletes on hitting and infield defense, while also serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
In 2014, UVU won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament to secure its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Wolverines led the conference in stolen bases, and first baseman Amanda Robinson broke the school career home runs record en route to UVU’s program-record 51 team home runs.
Other collegiate coaching stints included a head coaching position at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minn. from 2009-10, as well as a position at Hamlin University in St. Paul, Minn., where he served as assistant softball coach and recruiting coordinator from 2003-07.
In his collegiate coaching career, Vail has guided six All-Americans, three NJCAA Academic All-Americans as well as 21 all-conference picks and eight all-region selections.
Prior to his position at UVU, Vail held a pair of head coaching jobs in Minnesota, managing North St. Paul High School from 2011-12, as well as Burnsville High School from 2012-13.
Vail’s high school squads posted a combined 50-18 (.735) record, and their accomplishments included nine No. 1 rankings in the state coaches’ poll, a fourth-place finish in the state championships, six all-state selections and a St. Paul Pioneer Press Player of the Year.
Rounding out Vail’s resume was a position with the Minnesota Sting club team from 2010-12, where he served as co-director, 18u coordinator and head softball coach. His 18u Gold team was one of 12 teams to qualify for the PGF National and ASA Gold National, and among 14 players signing to Division I or II or NJCAA schools was Jadyn Spencer, who won the national championship with Alabama in 2012.
“This is a once in a lifetime experience to work with somebody of Coach Berg’s caliber, character and professionalism,” Vail said. “She is an icon in our sport. I couldn’t be more excited to work with her and this extremely talented and accomplished staff in achieving our goals of getting this program back on the top of the Pac-12 and on the road to Oklahoma City.”
In his men’s fastpitch softball playing career, Vail was an ASA All-American and ISC All-World selection, and won four silver medals playing in ISC and NAFA 23u World Championships. He is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, and has the National Fastpitch Coaching College’s Four-Star Master Coaching Certification.
