University of South Dakota Athletics

Head Coach Amy Klyse enters the 2016 season with the best win percentage in program history and four wins shy of 200 in a career at USD that began in 2007. When she hits that milestone, she will be the second Coyote softball coach to achieve 200 victories.
 
Most recently, Klyse has led South Dakota to three consecutive seasons of at least 28 wins and her teams have scored a lot of runs to get there. In 2015, for example, the Coyotes ranked 28^th (out of 289) nationally in scoring and 27^th in batting average. In addition, USD ranked 15^th in slugging percentage thanks to 107 doubles (second nationally) and a Summit League record 77 home runs (17^th nationally). The Coyotes have ranked in the top 60 in scoring in each of the last three seasons.
 
Klyse has led South Dakota to the Summit League Tournament all three years since gaining eligibility in 2012. The team advanced to the championship game a year ago and finished as the 2015 runner-up. Before that, Klyse guided the Coyotes through a successful transition to the Division I level and into the Summit League where the Coyotes have compiled a 46-36 record in four seasons.
 
Award Winners
A total of 21 Coyotes have earned all-conference honors under Klyse including six two-time all-conference performers and three three-time honorees. In 2015, the Coyotes boasted eight all-Summit League players including first teamers Allie Daly, Katie Dinning and Yvon Minogue. Daly and Minogue went on to earn NFCA All-Region honors.
 
Tagney Jones was the 2009 Independent Player of the Year under Klyse. Mel Johnson was the Great West Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2010. The Coyotes earned their first major award winner in the Summit League in 2014 when pitcher Rachel Cue was named Freshman of the Year.
 
Klyse was named Co-Coach of the Year in the North Central Conference after her first season of 2008. She led the Coyotes to a 6-6 conference mark that year and handed Omaha its only two losses in conference play.
 
Klyse’s background
Klyse grew up in Sacramento, Calif., and played collegiately at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., where she pitched for four seasons and was a two-time all-NCC honoree. When she graduated, Klyse was Augustana’s all-time leader in wins (89) and strikeouts (682). She now ranks second and third on those respective lists and her ERA of 1.21 ranks fifth.
 
Klyse graduated with a degree in communications in 2003 and stayed on as a pitching coach at Augustana. She also served as an assistant coach at Sioux Falls Lincoln High School and pitching coach at the University of Sioux Falls. She first joined the Coyotes in 2007 when she served as pitching coach and assistant coach. She was interim head coach in 2008 before having the interim tag removed in July that season.
 
Klyse won 33 games in her second season in 2009, the third-most in program history. She won 29 games in 2013, which ranks sixth in program history. She enters 2016 with 196 wins which is the second-highest tally in program history.
 

Amy Klyse Career Coaching Records