Softball head coach Kirin Kumar, beyond the diamond
Before her second season, Kumar shared how she’s raising the bar, finding joy in travel and shaping a team that grows together.
By any measure, Kirin Kumar’s first season was a rousing success. The Ohio State softball head coach led her team—powered by the nation’s highest-scoring offense—to a top-four finish in the Big Ten and an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Kumar and assistants Matthew Guemmer and Courtney Vierstra were named the Softball America Coaching Staff of the Year. Kumar answered a few of our questions about her coaching philosophy, Buckeye athletics excellence and the joys of travel before the new season started Feb. 6.
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How do you build on last year’s success?
I think the standard is top four in the Big Ten, especially with 17 teams in there now and some powerhouses. Going to regionals [the first round of the tournament] is a standard. I would really this year push to host a regional, and that would mean that you’re in the top 16 [nationally].
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Does it add any extra pressure for your team, being around so much Buckeye excellence in other sports?
I don’t think it’s extra pressure, it’s the fact that you’re surrounded by greatness and so you want to be great, too. I’m just in awe of what Lori Walker-Hock has done with women’s soccer and what Nadine Muzerall has done with women’s ice hockey.
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What do you do in the offseason that you don’t have time for during the season?
I’m a concertgoer. The other Saturday night, I saw that Pentatonix was here. I literally that night decided to go to Pentatonix.
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I heard you’re also an experienced traveler.
Every December, I go to a new country, and I’ve been doing that since 2015. So that’s my wind-down time—just go to a new country, have fun, experience new cultures and then come back in January, and it’s full-go until June. Last year, I went to Japan and Thailand. It was awesome. This year, it’s Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.
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Any travel recommendations?
Two countries I think nobody really talks about: Bolivia in South America. I found that so fascinating. The food was fantastic, and it has the highest capital in the world in La Paz. And then the other one is Bhutan, which is a tiny country in between India and China.
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What would you do if you weren’t a softball coach?
I was going to work at Merrill Lynch. I actually had a job there before I got the call to be an assistant coach at University of Tulsa.
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Was that a difficult decision for you?
It wasn’t difficult for me, but it was for my parents.
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What do you want your players to get out of their time here?
That they learn about themselves, become better humans and say they’d pick this place all over again.
