Bio

A former Gulf Coast All-American returns to old stomping ground to take over the Bulldogs softball team. Izzy Werdann, the catcher/third baseman who went on to play in the SEC, has been named the fifth head softball coach in school history.

She brings a wealth of softball experience at the highest levels of collegiate play back to her alma mater, having been an assistant at Southern Miss the last six years.

During her two years at Gulf Coast, the Bulldogs went 85-21. Werdann led the team with 13 home runs, 47 RBI and a .513 on-base percentage while batting .384 in 2017. She was named MACJC Co-Player of the Year and earned her second All-MACJC selection on the way to All-Region 23 and NJCAA All-American honors.

The Bulldogs were conference regular-season and tournament runners-up, missing the national tournament by one game at the regional tourney. They were ranked seventh in the final NJCAA poll.

In her freshman season, she batted .323 with five homers and 41 RBI. Gulf Coast finished ranked third in the country after finishing as regular-season and tourney runners-up.

Werdann became the second Gulf Coast player to play in the SEC when she went to Ole Miss, batting .281 in 33 games over two seasons in Oxford, earning scholar-athlete awards along the way.

The Rebels made it to the championship round of the Tempe Regional in her junior year before winning the Oxford Regional the next year, losing to sixth-ranked Arizona in the Tucson Super Regional.

She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant in 2019 before transitioning to volunteer assistant coach. She was promoted to full-time assistant coach before the 2023 season. In her three seasons as a full-time assistant, the Golden Eagles made it to the conference tournament each year, the longest such streak at the school since 2010-13. 

Werdann played her high school softball at Tate in Pensacola, Fla., where she helped lead her squad to the Class 7A state championship as a senior.

Werdann has an associate’s degree from Gulf Coast and a bachelor’s in general studies with minors in education, sports and recreation management and psychology from Ole Miss, graduating summa cum laude. She graduated with a master’s in sports management from USM while she started her coaching career.