The UNC softball program has found its next head coach.

The Tar Heels will hire Megan Smith Lyon, who played for Carolina in the late 1990s and won the team’s Defensive Player of the Year award before head coaching stints at Western Carolina, Kansas and Marshall. The news was first reported on Monday, and the program confirmed it on Thursday.

Smith Lyon will replace former head coach Donna Papa, who announced her retirement in May after 38 seasons with the program. Smith Lyon also served as an assistant coach at UNC under Papa in 2004. That season saw the Tar Heels win 44 games and appear in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m a Tar Heel born and bred. It was always my dream to play at North Carolina, and to now be the head coach feels like I’m coming home,” Smith Lyon said in a statement.

Smith Lyon has been successful at all three of her head coaching stops, posting at least one 40-win season with the Catamounts, Jayhawks and Thundering Herd. Her one season with Western Carolina saw the Catamounts finish 41-20, win the Southern Conference regular season championship and Smith Lyon win the league’s Coach of the Year award. Smith Lyon spent nine seasons at Kansas, with her most successful being the 2015 campaign when the Jayhawks finished 40-15 and made a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Smith Lyon’s most recent stop was with Marshall, and in 2023 she led the Thundering Herd to a program-record 45 wins and a 23-game winning streak. It was her second 40-win season with the program, and in each full-length season (not counting the pandemic-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons) Smith Lyon’s Marshall teams won at least 15 conference games.

“Megan is an outstanding leader who has proven she knows how to build teams and teamwork on and off the field,” said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham. “She recruits talent, strengthens skills, develops winners and knows first-hand what it takes to succeed as a student and an athlete at Carolina. We are happy to welcome her back to Chapel Hill, and we look forward to the future of Carolina Softball.”

Smith Lyon boasts an overall head coaching record of 553-335. She is a North Carolina native, having been born in Walkertown, N.C. (a suburb of Winston-Salem). Smith Lyon played third base with the Tar Heels from 1996 through 1999.

 

Featured image via Marshall Athletics

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