John Rittman

John Rittman
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Clemson
Conference	ACC
Record	188-62
Biographical details
Born	October 5, 1963 (age 60)
Playing career
Baseball
1982	Yavapai
1983–1985	New Mexico State
Position(s)	Outfielder
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Softball
1988–1990	Oregon (asst.)
1991–1992	Minnesota (asst.)
1993–1996	Washington (asst.)
1997–2014	Stanford
2001–2008	United States (asst.)
2015, 2017	Kansas (assoc. HC)
2016–present	United States (asst.)
2020–present	Clemson
Head coaching record
Overall	938–413–3 (.694)
Tournaments	NCAA: 41–36 (.532)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	As assistant coach: Pac-10 (1996); As head coach: Pac-10 (2005); ACC (2021);
Awards
	NCAA Pacific Region Coach of the Year (1998); 2× Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2001, 2004); ACC Coach of the Year (2021);

John Richard Rittman (born October 5, 1963) is an American college softball coach, serving as the inaugural head coach of the Clemson Tigers softball team. He previously served as head coach at Stanford and an assistant with USA Softball, Kansas, Washington, Minnesota, and Oregon.^[1]^[2]

Education

An outfielder, Rittman played college baseball at Yavapai College before transferring to New Mexico State University and playing three seasons there from 1983 to 1985.^[3] As a junior in 1984, Rittman played 51 games and batted .338 with 50 hits, 27 RBI, and one homer.^[4] Rittman graduated from New Mexico State in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.^[3]

Coaching career

Assistant coach (1988–1996)

Rittman was an assistant softball coach at Oregon from 1988 to 1990, Minnesota from 1991 to 1992, and Washington from 1993 to 1996, during which Oregon advanced to the 1989 Women's College World Series and Minnesota won the 1992 Big Ten Conference title. Joining the inaugural Washington coaching staff in 1993, Rittman helped Washington win the 1996 Pac-10 title and advance to the championship game of the 1996 Women's College World Series.^[3]

Stanford (1997–2014)

In July 1996, Rittman became head coach at Stanford, a program that became a varsity sport in the 1994 season.^[5] As head coach from 1997 to 2014, Rittman had a cumulative 750–351–3 record and one Pac-10 title in 2005,^[6]^[3] with 16 consecutive NCAA Division I Softball Championship appearances from 1998 to 2013, five Super Regionals, and two Women's College World Series berths in 2001 and 2004.^[3]

At Stanford, Rittman coached several players who went on to play for the U.S. national women's softball team or elsewhere professionally, including Jessica Allister, Ashley Hansen, Lauren Lappin, and Jessica Mendoza. Mendoza and another Stanford player under Rittman, Ramona Shelburne, later became broadcasters for ESPN. Allister played two seasons in National Pro Fastpitch before returning to Stanford as an assistant coach under Rittman from 2007 to 2009 and becoming head coach at Stanford from 2018.

Rittman resigned from Stanford on June 2, 2014 after the team finished 5–19 in Pac-12 Conference games that season.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11] His resignation was surrounded by controversy and findings of a major NCAA rules violation.^[12]^[13]

Kansas and USA Softball (2015–2017)

He then spent two seasons at Kansas as associate head coach in 2015 and 2017, and also two stints as an assistant with USA Softball.

Clemson (2017–present)

On November 3, 2017, Rittman was named the inaugural head coach at Clemson. They played their first season in 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

Head coaching record

Sources:^[14]^[15]

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Stanford Cardinal (Pacific-10/Pac-12 Conference) (1997–2014)
1997	Stanford	31–27–1	10–18	5th
1998	Stanford	41–18	17–11	3rd	NCAA Regionals
1999	Stanford	40–25	10–18	T–6th	NCAA Regionals
2000	Stanford	45–18	9–12	4th	NCAA Regionals
2001	Stanford	54–16–1	11–10	T–3rd	Women's College World Series
2002	Stanford	44–20	7–14	T–6th	NCAA Regionals
2003	Stanford	41–26	7–14	T–6th	NCAA Regionals
2004	Stanford	49–19	13–8	T–2nd	Women's College World Series
2005	Stanford	43–16	13–8	T–1st	NCAA Super Regionals
2006	Stanford	42–18	10–11	6th	NCAA Super Regionals
2007	Stanford	35–21–1	7–13–1	6th	NCAA Regionals
2008	Stanford	49–15	11–10	4th	NCAA Super Regionals
2009	Stanford	48–11	13–8	4th	NCAA Super Regionals
2010	Stanford	37–19	8–13	T–6th	NCAA Regionals
2011	Stanford	42–17	10–11	5th	NCAA Super Regionals
2012	Stanford	40–19	11–13	6th	NCAA Regionals
2013	Stanford	39–21	13–11	4th	NCAA Regionals
2014	Stanford	30–25	5–19	8th
Stanford:		750–351–3 (.681)	185–222–1 (.455)
Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2020–Present)
2020	Clemson	19–8	5–1	3rd	Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Clemson	44–8	29–5	1st	NCAA Regionals
2022	Clemson	42–17	14–10	5th	NCAA Super Regionals
2023	Clemson	49–12	18–6	3rd	NCAA Super Regionals
2024	Clemson	35–19	15–9	T–4th	NCAA Regionals
Clemson:		189–64 (.747)	81–31 (.723)
Total:		939–415–3 (.693)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion