Olivia Watkins joined the Duke University women’s softball program as an assistant coach on July 5, 2022, and was elevated to Associate Head Coach on July 10, 2024. In her role, she is responsible for coaching defense and slap-hitting, and also oversees baserunning and the short game. During the 2024 season she played a key role in guiding Duke to a program-record 52-9 mark, its second ACC Championship, its third straight NCAA Super Regional appearance, and the first-ever Women’s College World Series berth in program history. Under her direction, the Blue Devils’ defense held opponents scoreless in 20 of 61 games—the most shutouts in the ACC and ranked fifth nationally.
Prior to her tenure at Duke, Watkins spent three seasons (2020–2022) as an assistant coach at Boston College where she worked on defense, baserunning and slap-hitting. During that period her teams improved their stolen base totals dramatically—from only 11 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, to 21 in 2021 and 40 in 2022. She also coached the All-ACC outfielder Ellie Mataya. Before Boston College, Watkins served two seasons at Dartmouth College working with infield defense, hitting and baserunning, and the team earned a share of the Ivy League title in 2018. She began her coaching career at the University of Illinois as a volunteer assistant (2016-17). As a player, she was a standout at Western Kentucky University where she graduated in 2015 as the program’s all-time leader in batting average (.380) and stolen bases (117), and later played professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch league.
