Jessica Jones-Sitzmann

Bio

Jessica Jones-Sitzmann is the winningest coach of any sport in Morningside University history, stepping down from her post as head coach with a 803-402 career record. She will continue to serve as an assistant coach in addition to her new role as assistant athletic director.  Jones-Sitzmann was previously a Morningside assistant coach for four years before she was promoted to the head post in 1999.

Jones-Sitzmann led Morningside to 16 30-plus-win seasons, 10 NAIA tournament appearances, eight GPAC regular-season championships, and eight GPAC post-season tournament championships over the 19 years that her Mustangs competed in the GPAC.  She was a six-time Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. The most recent honor occurred in 2017. The Mustangs posted a 40-12 record and won the GPAC championship with a 17-3 league record for a three-game victory margin and earned a berth in the NAIA Championships as an opening round host.

She was also named the GPAC Coach of the Year in 2016 after she piloted the Mustangs to a 47-10 record to set a school record for victories and winning percentage (.825). The Mustangs won GPAC regular season and post-season tournament championships and the Morningside Bracket championship in the national tournament opening round en route to their first-ever appearance in the NAIA World Series.

Mside's coach was named the 2014 GPAC Coach of the Year after they posted a 30-14 record and won GPAC regular season and post-season tournament championships to qualify for the NAIA tournament for the sixth year in a row. She also guided the Mustangs to GPAC regular-season championships in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Jones-Sitzmann was named the GPAC Coach of the Year for the third time in a four-year span in 2010 after she guided the Mustangs to a 40-9 record, the GPAC regular season and post-season tournament championships, and a national tournament berth. She was the 2009 GPAC Co-Coach of the Year after she led the Mustangs to the GPAC regular-season championship and an NAIA tournament berth. She guided the Mustangs to a 40-12 record, the GPAC tournament championship, and a fifth consecutive NAIA regional appearance in 2008. Her 2007 team posted a 43-13 record to set a school record with a .768 winning percentage. Jones-Sitzmann was named the 2007 GPAC Coach of the Year after she led the Mustangs to that season’s GPAC regular-season championship.

She was named the 2017 recipient of South Dakota State's Ralph Ginn Award for Coaching Excellence. The award, named after the longtime SDSU football coach, is presented to graduates of SDSU who have distinguished themselves in the fields of coaching and education.

Jones-Sitzmann is a 1993 graduate of South Dakota State University, where she was a standout pitcher. She posted a 42-39 record with the Jackrabbits and established a school record with a 1.81 career earned run average. She earned NCAA Division II All-America honors as a junior in 1992 to become the Jackrabbits' first-ever softball All-American.

As a prep senior, Jones-Sitzmann led Sioux City East High School to a seventh-place finish at the 1989 state tournament. Jones-Sitzmann tossed a no-hitter against North Scott in the opening round of the state tourney. She posted a 32-7 record with a sparkling 0.78 earned run average and struck out 225 batters in 224 innings pitched during her senior campaign en route to first-team all-state honors. She earned fifth-team all-state laurels as an outfielder when she batted .402 as a junior.