Jim Overturf enters his 28th season as a collegiate head softball coach. He has guided three other programs to a record of success. He is beginning his first season with the College of Southern Nevada.
Overturf has reached the NJCAA National Tournament 5 times in fourteen years. He helped guide Kirkwood Community College, an NJCAA Division II member, to 4 national tournament appearances during his 7 seasons as head coach. His overall record while at Kirkwood was 280-96.
He then spent 7 years as the head coach at Indian Hills Community College a member of the NJCAA Division I. He made one appearance in the national tournament and had an overall record of 202-157. In 2010 Overturf recorded his 600th win as head coach for Indian Hills.
Before going to Kirkwood Overturf spent 13 years as the head softball coach and 16 years as head volleyball coach at William Penn College. He was the first coach to guide the college softball and volleyball program into the always-tough Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for women.
William Penn was a member of the NCAA III. In his first season he lead the softball program to a runner up in the conference and the lead the volleyball program to a conference championship. He was involved in helping the conference in establishing the conference by-laws for both softball and volleyball. He also convinced William Penn College to build a softball field on campus that helped in the success of the program.
He has coached several All Conference, All Region, and All American athletes during his first 27 years of coaching softball. His success has come from all of the players that has played for him. A very high percentage of his players have graduated with a college degree. He has had 14 straight years in the NJCAA of having an Academic All American team, which means his teams have earn over a 3.00 GPA. Many of the teams earned over a 3.50 GPA. Overturf also has coached many Academic All Americans.
Overturf started coaching in the high school ranks before moving to the college level. He has been involved in guiding an athletic team for over 40 years.
He believes in strong academics. He believes being a good student and a good communicator will help the student in being a good softball player. He wants his players to take perform well in the classroom as well as on the softball field. He believes in developing a family type atmosphere. He wants the players to develop trust and belief in each other.
Overturf earned his BA degree from William Penn College and a MS degree from Iowa State University in Athletic Administration. He has been married for 44 years to his wife, Tami. They have two children, a son Erik and a daughter Jill. They have also been blessed with 4 grandchildren.
