Creighton University Athletics
Softball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- kristawood@creighton.edu
  Krista Wood begins her fifth season at the helm of the Bluejays softball program in 2026-27. Named the third head coach in Creighton Softball history on June 6, 2022, Wood’s has posted an 120-105 record in her first four seasons, engineering one of the nation’s greatest turnarounds.
   In just four seasons, Wood has coached 11 First Team and six Second Team All-BIG EAST picks, while also recruiting and coaching the 2024 BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year (Natalia Puchino), the three-time defending BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year (Ashten Pierson) and the 2026 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year (Keegan Mayhue). In addition, Wood has also coached six NFCA All-Great Lakes Region, 14 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and 46 NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete members during her first four years.
  Last year's team finish 32-27 and placed third in the BIG EAST with a 17-7 record, while finishing runner-up at the BIG EAST Tournament for a third straight season. Wood has now guided Creighton to its third consecutive 30-win season, becoming the first coach in program history to win 30 games in three of her first four seasons. Wood collected her 600th career victory with a 4-0 shutout win over South Dakota on Feb. 20, before collecting her 100th win at Creighton with 7-5 win over Providence in the first game at the new Creighton Softball Stadium.
  Individual accolades also come in bunches with the successful 2026 season under Wood. Pierson was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year for the third year in a row, while Keegan Mayhue was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Sophomore second baseman Tara Vandewater was selected to the NFCA All-Region Second Team, while Mayhue became just the second Bluejay in school history to claim Freshman All-American (D1Softball) honors. Lily West, meanwhile, became programs all-time career hits record holder as she was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. In addition, the Bluejays shattered seven school records, including ranking in the top-30 nationally in stolen bases (8th - 124), doubles (16th - 102) and fielding percentage (30th - .974).
 Creighton ended the 2025 season with a 30-25 record, marking its first back-to-back 30-win season since 2009-10, while returning to the BIG EAST Tournament title game for a second consecutive season. Pierson repeated as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, while Sydra Seville, Sydney Potter, Kaelan Schultz and Lily West all earned All-BIG EAST honors as the Bluejays establishing school records for runs scored (321) and RBI (292).
   In 2024, Wood’s orchestrated the programs first 35-win season since 2010 with 36 wins, including an impressive 16 wins in the BIG EAST as the Jays finished as the runner-up in the BIG EAST regular season and tournament. Wood’s and her staff were voted Co-BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year (2024), while Ella Dalton, Cayla Nielsen, Madeline Vejvoda and Puchino all earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors with Seville garnering Second Team acclaim. In addition, Pierson became the first freshman in BIG EAST history to earn BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors and Puchino claiming Pitcher of the Year accolades.
   As a team, the Bluejays improved drastically in multiple offensive and defensive categories in 2024. CU ranked in the top-10 in the NCAA and established a new school record with a .977 fielding percentage, while slugging 77 doubles, the second-most in a single season in program history. Additionally, the Bluejays dropped their ERA by nearly an entire run per game, while striking out 77 more batters.Â
   In 2023, Wood’s inherited a team that went just 15-27 prior to her arrival and improved that nearly identical squad to a 22-31 mark in her debut season at Creighton. Nielsen earned unanimous First Team All-BIG EAST and NFCA All-Great Lakes Region First Team honors while leading the Bluejays with a .395 batting average. Fifth-year senior Kailey Wilson also became the 17th Bluejay in program history to earn all-conference honors at least three times in her career, claiming Second Team All-BIG EAST accolades.Â
   Wood’s enters her fourth season as head coach at Creighton with an impressive past, both on and off the field.
   Prior to coming to Creighton, Wood spent eight seasons as head coach at South Dakota State, where she led the Jackrabbits to a 238-164 record and earned Summit League Coach of the Year accolades in 2018, 2021 and 2022. SDSU swept the Summit League regular-season and tournament titles in both 2021 and 2022, picking up NCAA Tournament wins over Stanford (2021) and Villanova (2022) along the way.
   South Dakota State finished the 2022 season with a 41-13 record, including an 18-2 league mark. The third seed in the Orlando Regional, Wood’s club rallied with three runs in the seventh and another in the ninth inning to eliminate BIG EAST champion Villanova from the postseason The Jacks produced a school-record 76 home runs and had a pair of pitchers named First Team All-Summit League. SDSU finished 12-0 at home, one of three teams nationally to finish unbeaten at home in 2022.
   SDSU won the 2021 Summit League regular season and tournament titles and advanced to its first NCAA regional appearance at the Division I level in 2021, finishing 43-8. Wood’s 2021 squad tied the program’s single-season record for wins, including a victory over Stanford in its NCAA Tournament opener. Wood and her staff were one of 10 programs in the nation to be recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association as a 2021 Division I Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.
   Wood coached 14 NFCA All-Midwest Region selections and 34 All-Summit League selections in her time at SDSU. The Jackrabbits dominated the Summit League awards in 2021 and 2022, with 16 all-conference selections, as she mentored both the Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year each season, as well as the 2021 Freshman of the Year and 2022 Defensive Player of the Year. Wood also coached the 2016 Freshman of the Year and 2018 Player of the Year while leading SDSU.
   The Jackrabbits won 20 or more games six times under Wood and reached the Summit League Championships all seven seasons it was held during her tenure.
   SDSU won 37 games in both 2018 and 2019 seasons, reaching the National Invitational Softball Championship following each campaign. Wood was named the Summit League’s Coach of the Year in 2018 while guiding her team to a program-record .673 winning percentage, breaking the 35-win mark for the second time in history.
   Throughout her tenure at SDSU, Wood’s teams were at their best against BIG EAST competition. The Jackrabbits were 20-5 overall in those games, including a 17-1 mark in her final six seasons that concluded with a streak of 11 straight victories.
   Wood owns a 628-423 career record, which also includes eight seasons at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., from 2007-14.
   Wood put together a 270-154 mark at Division II Wayne State, turning the Wildcat program into a winner after inheriting a 10-win squad when she was hired before the 2007 season. She brought WSC to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments between 2009-11, including a 2010 NCAA Central Region crown. The Wildcats won a school-record 43 games during that season and claimed the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament championship. She was inducted into Wayne State’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
   Wood coached internationally during the summer of 2009, leading a United States team (sponsored by USA Athletes International) at the Oldenzaal Invitational in Holland.
   A native of Missouri Valley, Iowa, Wood spent two seasons as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State University after a stellar career at Omaha from 2000-2003. She helped the Mavericks to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2001 as a sophomore and still holds Maverick career records in wins (106), appearances (147), games started (124), complete games (110) and innings pitched (858.1). She also owns or shares single-season school records in wins (32 in 2002), ERA (0.76 in 2001), saves (5 in 2003) and shutouts (15 in 2002) and was named to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2020.
   In the 2001 national championship game, Wood authored a two-hit shutout with five strikeouts in a 4-0 win over Lewis University. She also ranks second in career shutouts at UNO with 43, and earned numerous honors as a player at UNO, earning First Team All-NCC honors three times, while also collecting three All-NCC Academic Team awards. She earned NFCA All-Region First Team honors in 2002 and was a Second Team All-Region selection in 2001. Wood also earned North Central Conference Freshman of the Year in 2000.
   Wood also brings coaching experience at the high school level, serving as the pitching coach at Omaha Gross High School in the fall of 2003 and at state-qualifying Omaha Westside High School in 2004.
   Wood earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education K-12 with an endorsement in coaching while graduating magna cum laude from Omaha in 2004. She received a master’s degree in sport management in 2006 from St. Cloud State.
   Krista and her husband Alex have two sons, Braxton and Myles.
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Wood’s Career Coaching LedgerÂ
Wayne State College, 2007-2014
   Year   Overall    Pct.   Conference   Pct.   Notes
   2007   28-23   .549   9-9   .500
    2008   30-23   .566   12-6   .667
    2009   41-21   .661   19-6   .760   NCAA Central Regional
    2010   43-14   .754   23-5   .821   NSIC Tournament Champs, NCAA Central Regional Champions,
                                                              NCAA Central Super Regional
    2011   37-17   .685   22-4   .846   NCAA Central Regional
   2012   28-23   .549   13-13   .500
    2013   28-16   .636   17-9   .654
    2014   35-18   .660   20-8   .714
    WSC   270-154   .636   135-60   .692
South Dakota State University, 2015-2022
   2015   23-29   .442   7-11   .389
    2016   23-24   .489   8-10   .444
    2017   19-35   .352   4-12   .250
    2018   37-18   .673   10-4   .714   Summit League Coach of the Year, NISC Regional      Â
    2019   37-19   .661   11-7   .611   NISC Regional (1-2)
   2020   15-8   .652   -   -   Season cut short because of COVID-19 pandemic
   2021   43-8   .843   21-1   .955   Summit League Coach of the Year, Summit League Regular-season & TournamentÂ
                                                              Champs, NCAA Regional (1-2)
    2022   41-13   .759   18-2   .900   Summit League Coach of the Year, Summit League Regular-season & Tournament
                                                                Champs, NCAA Regional
    SDSU   238-164   .592   79-47   .627
Creighton University, 2023-Present
   2023   22-31   .415   6-18   .250        Â
    2024   36-22   .621   16-8   .667   BIG EAST Co-Coaching Staff of the Year     Â
    2025   30-25   .545   15-9   .625  Â
  2026  32-27  .542  17-7  .708     Â
    CU   120-105  .533  54-42  .563
    Career   628-423  .598  268-149  .643
