Molly O’Donnell enters her third season as Cortland's softball head coach in 2022.
In 2021, O'Donnell led the Red Dragons to a 20-10 record, the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Eastern Division title, and the finals of the SUNYAC postseason tournament. The league used a divisional format that season due to a COVID-19 related schedule reduction. Her team featured two All-Americans, five all-region selections, two Academic All-District honorees and one Academic All-American. Her inaugural season as head coach in 2020 was cut short after a 2-2 mark when the remainder of the season was canceled.
O'Donnell previously served as the Red Dragons' associate head coach during the 2018-19 school year and was an assistant coach in the program during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. She helped Cortland finished 31-16, win both the SUNYAC regular-season and postseason titles, and finish second in an NCAA regional to tie for 17th place nationally in 2019. In her previous two years as an assistant, Cortland had a combined 74-24 record, won two SUNYAC crowns and earned four NCAA tournament wins.
The Niskayuna, N.Y., native served as an assistant coach at Division I Columbia University in 2017 and 2018. Working with the Lions’ hitters, she helped the team set school single-season records for runs scored, home runs, RBI and total bases in 2017 and establish new school records in batting average, slugging percentage, runs, homers, triples, RBI, walks and total bases in 2018.
Prior to her first stint at Cortland, O’Donnell spent the 2014 season at Skidmore College, where she helped guide the Thoroughbreds to their first postseason appearance in four years. O’Donnell and the rest of the Skidmore staff were named 2014 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.
A two-year captain and four-year letterwinner at Ithaca College, O’Donnell was named a First Team Empire 8 All-Star as a freshman in 2010 and earned second-team accolades after hitting .348 with 29 RBI her junior season. O’Donnell’s performance in the 2010 postseason landed her on the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team.
O’Donnell graduated magna cum laude from Ithaca in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in sport management. She went on to complete her master’s in sport management at Cortland in 2015. Additionally, O’Donnell has completed National Fastpitch Coaches Convention (NFCC) courses in World Series Observation, Offensive Strategy and Dynamic Practice Planning.
O’Donnell graduated from Niskayuna High School in 2009. She played five seasons of softball for the Silver Warriors, earning All-Suburban Council honors as a junior and senior, and also lettered in basketball and field hockey.
