MENOMONIE – University of Wisconsin-Stout Director of Athletics Duey Naatz has announced the hiring of Lakyn Wagoner as the Blue Devils Head Women's Softball Coach.
"We are excited to welcome Lakyn to the Blue Devil family," Naatz said. "Her knowledge and overall vision and excitement for the future of the program stood out and we are excited to see our softball program continue to grow under her leadership."
Wagoner comes to Stout after spending two years as the assistant coach for the University of Evansville. Her first year she assisted with hitting and coached outfield; her second year she was responsible for UE's hitting. While at Evansville she increased almost every offensive statistical category during the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) season.
Collegiately, Wagoner started at the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2017 where she helped the Prairie Stars win a GLVC Conference Title as well as a Regional Title. She was a First-Team All-Region and First-Team All-GLVC selection in 2018. In 2020, she was a CoSIDA Academic All-District team selection.
During her two complete years at UIS, she left as the program's all-time leader in batting average (.375), slugging percentage (.619), doubles (35), triples (15), and total bases (279), while also collecting 169 hits, 99 runs, 15 homers, 102 RBI, 52 stolen bases, and a .414 on-base percentage.
In 2019, she received a redshirt-year due to a knee injury, and another redshirt-year in 2020 due to COVID-19. She finished her career (21-22) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where her team finished third in the Big Ten and contended in the 2022 University of Missouri Regional. Unfortunately, due to two more surgeries, she was not able to complete her last two years but garnered the Big Ten Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year Award in 2022.
Wagoner completed her Master's Degree at the University of Illinois in Recreation, Sports, and Tourism in 2022 and completed her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science at the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2020.
The Blue Devils open the 2025 season on Feb. 15 in Mankato, Minn. against Gustavus Adolphus and Macalester College.
