Rodney DeLong Softball Camps Coaching Staff

Head Coach | Rodney DeLong

Rodney DeLong was named the fifth head coach in UNT history in 2018. He enters his fifth season at the helm of the program in 2023 with a 129-52 record in Denton.

DeLong's fourth year proved to be another record-setting year as he led the team to its first Conference USA Tournament title, first Regional appearance, and first postseason wins in program history. The Oklahoma native has led North Texas to back-to-back-to-back Conference USA Champions seasons after winning the tournament title in Denton. UNT had six players earn year-end conference awards including one first team all-conference, three second team all-conference, two freshman all-conference, and two conference all-academic.

Despite having over 10 games canceled in the 2022 season, the Mean Green finished with the second-most wins in program history (37), including its first two postseason wins in program history over Fordham and Nebraska, to advance to the Championship game in the Stillwater Regional. The Mean Green set program-highs in batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.512), runs scored (297), home runs (71), and RBI (274).

Year three of DeLong's tenure in Denton featured more improvement, leading the team to its highest win total in program history with 38 as he earned the conference Coach of the Year again. The Mean Green also won its first outright conference championship, three players earned year-end conference awards, a program best, and eight players were named to the all-conference list, another program best.

During a shortened year two, DeLong continued to take North Texas softball to new heights. The team started the season 13-2, which was the best 15-game start in program history and finished with a 19-5 record. The Mean Green set program and school history on February 29 when they knocked off No. 5 Oklahoma on the road. The win proved to be the first win in North Texas intercollegiate athletics history over a top-5 ranked team on the road. The win over Oklahoma also gave DeLong 50 wins as the Mean Green skipper, making him the fastest coach in North Texas softball history to the 50-win mark.

In 2020 the Mean Green also made it back-to-back years with a win over a top-10 ranked Louisiana team, this time knocking off the Ragin' Cajuns 2-1 in Lafayette on February 8. North Texas also finished the shortened season with a perfect 5-0 record at home.

In DeLong's first season with the team, he was named Conference USA's Coach of the Year as the Mean Green broke or tied six school records including wins (35), runs scored (279), RBIs (257), walks taken (207), Doubles (78) and shutouts (8). The biggest success came on May 5, 2019 when the Mean Green captured their first Conference USA regular season championship, the first in program history.  During year one of the DeLong era, the Mean Green earned two first team All-Conference selections (Katie Clark and Hope Trautwein), one second team selection (Harley Perella) and an All-Freshman selection (Tayla Evans).

A 15-year coaching veteran, DeLong came to North Texas after leading Austin Peay to a program-record 39 wins in 2018, snapping a 24-year streak of losing seasons. The 39-19 record in his first season with the Governors marked a 22-win improvement, the largest in NCAA Division I softball this year. APSU won a program-record three games on its way to a school-best third-place finish at the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, and the Governors earned an at-large bid into the National Invitational Softball Championship.

Prior to Austin Peay, DeLong was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and served as the hitting instructor and infielders coach. During the 2017 campaign, the Yellow Jackets showed improvement in 11 different offensive categories and finished the season ranked 18th nationally in home runs per game (1.02), nearly doubling their average from 2016 (0.59). Georgia Tech's defense ranked 59th nationally in double plays per game (0.40).

In his first collegiate coaching stop, DeLong compiled a 105-60 (.636) record at Cameron University and led the Aggies to consecutive NCAA Division II Softball Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. Under his tutelage, Cameron had 18 all-conference honorees, nine named all-region and two selected as All-Americans.

In his final season, the Aggies went 33-21 and 18-14 in the Lone Star Conference, good for a program-best third-place finish in conference. The 2015 squad posted a school-record 41 wins, including a program-record 17-game winning streak, and reached the South Central Regional final. In his inaugural season, DeLong led the program to its first winning season since 2009 with a 31-21 record.

Once considered one of the top high school softball coaches in Oklahoma, DeLong amassed a 211-64 (.767) record at Cache High School (2008-10; 2012-13) and Lawton MacArthur High School (2011). While at Cache, he led the Bulldogs to the 2013 state championship, as well as four regional championships and five district championship.

A two-year letterwinner on Cameron's baseball team, DeLong played shortstop for the Aggies, starting in 79 games and finishing with 54 career RBI. He began his collegiate career at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa, earning second-team all-region honors after batting .390 with 10 home runs and 56 RBI as a sophomore.

The Lawton, Oklahoma native graduated from Cameron University in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in history before recieving his Masters of Education in sports administration at East Central University in 2013. Rodney and his wife Meghann have two children, their son Ryker and daughter Kaiya.