OREM — Todd Fairbourne is back as UVSC softball coach. After stepping away from the game for two years to serve as assistant athletic director and sports information director, Fairbourne was named head coach after Angie Crawford stepped down due to family reasons.
"I've pretty much decided that this would be my career," Fairbourne said. "I feel fortunate with the way things worked out."
The decision to return to the coaching scene started six months ago. But what convinced Fairbourne that coaching was where he belonged was when he took a trip to Arizona to watch the NCAA softball regionals.
"Watching that, I saw the highs and lows of the game and that finalized the decision in my heart that I needed to get back into coaching if at all possible," he said. "I feel this is what I should be doing."
The opportunity was certainly possible. After returning from Arizona, jobs at Utah State and Southern Utah both opened up. Several days later, the UVSC job too became open. Fairbourne applied for the Utah State job and wanted to stay in-state since this is where his family resides.
"A lot of it came down to my passion," Fairbourne said. "The hard times in sports information don't even compare to the difficult times in coaching. As I reflect back on coaching, when the times were hard it still wasn't hard for me to go out there."
In his six years as head coach, Fairbourne built a 242-94 record, making him the winningest coach in UVSC softball history. He guided the Wolverines to the school's only national championship in 2000 and in 2002 his team placed second at the NJCAA national tournament.
"He has a proven record of success on the field, so we are naturally excited that he wants to be a part of our softball program," athletic director Mike Jacobsen said. "He'll be a great asset in our transition to the Division I level."
The transition will be made even smoother since several players he recruited and coached two years ago are still on the team.
Fairbourne acknowledges that the challenges of a Div. I coach are the same as a junior college coach, just magnified.
"There is so much to do," Fairbourne said. "I have to learn the rules over and the recruiting process is way different."
Fairbourne said that when he became coach in 1997 there was not a lot of competition for Utah kids, and now the competition has become very stiff.
"There's a lot to do but that is part of the fun," he said. "In the long run I think Utah Valley can be one of the better softball teams in the state."