Softball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- jlg@uoregon.edu
- Phone:
- 541-346-5499
Associate head coach J. Gaudreau looks forward to her 15th season as head coach Kathy Arendsen’s top assistant and her seventh season with Arendsen on the staff at the University of Oregon.
“Loyalty and honesty are two traits that I admire most in a person,” Arendsen says of her top assistant. “Her recruiting abilities and the relationship that she builds with prospective student-athletes are outstanding.”
Gaudreau works with all phases of coaching, recruiting, travel and academic support, and in particular her work with the players’ individual offensive and defensive instruction paid big dividends again in 2008. For the second straight season, the Ducks again paced the Pacific-10 Conference in stolen bases (110) and double plays (22).
A year before in ?07, the Ducks soared in a milestone season statistically. UO led the Pac-10 in batting average (.306), doubles (83) and stolen bases (126), and ranked second in runs (343), triples (11), RBI (309), total bases (762) and slugging (.477), and third in hits (489) and on-base percentage (.384). In the field, Oregon posted a school record .973 fielding percentage mark, and easily eclipsed the previous mark (.960) set by another of her squads from ?05.
Oregon’s offense was key to yet another regional final trip in 2005 as infielder Beth Boskovich moved to ninth all-time on the UO home runs list, and freshman Lovena Chaput earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors after finishing with a .310 average and 18 extra base hits.
The Ducks’ offense also improved in 2004 as every returning starter improved in batting average, including Ashley Richards, who went from a .185 average to .315. And, after two seasons without a home run, Richards led the team (8). As a team, Oregon improved in RBI (210) and hits (409) in Gaudreau’s second season and all but one starter had at least one home run.
In her first season with the Ducks in ?03, Oregon’s improved offense was evident as the Ducks owned the top five hit totals in the NCAA Regional, had the highest individual batting average, second-highest team hitting percentage, scored more runs than any other team and had the highest individual home run output at the tournament (4 by Andrea Vidlund).
The Ducks hit 43 home runs to their opponents' 35 and held the advantage in average, hits, runs scored, RBI and slugging percentage over their 2003 opponents.
Along the way, Gaudreau has helped Arendsen ink many premier recruits, including state player or pitchers of the year in Oregon in 2003, ?04 and ?08, and in Washington in 2007 and ?08.
While at Mississippi State, the former volunteer assistant at Yale University (1993-96) also assisted with team defense, helping the Bulldogs steadily improve, and in 1999 the team posted a program-high .959 fielding percentage.
“She is very attentive to detail, follows through on things, and I know I can trust what she does,” Arendsen said. “J is respected as one of the top hitting instructors in collegiate softball. Her success in developing hitters was a primary reason for our team's accomplishments at Mississippi State and contributes heavily to our success at Oregon.”
Not limited to just coaching, Gaudreau also had an extensive playing career. She spent 18 seasons as a player on Amateur Softball Association teams (ASA). From 1975-1993, Gaudreau competed in 11 ASA national tournaments.
Her experience also extends to the other side of the plate as she served as an ASA certified umpire for six years.
While working at Mississippi State, she served as an instructor for the Elite Players Exposure Camp in Tulsa, Okla. In June, 1997, she was a lead instructor for the USA Softball-Elite hitting camp in Chattanooga, Tenn. She also assisted with the Mississippi State Coaches Clinic and MSU camps, working primarily with hitting, fielding and throwing. Gaudreau is a key instructor for the Duck softball camps as well.
Born in New Bedford, Mass., on May 11, 1952, Gaudreau earned her diploma from St. Luke’s in 1973.
