The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Softball
A.J. Daugherty
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ajdaugherty@uab.edu
- Phone:
- 975-7800
Updated February of 2024:
Awards and Accolades:
Daugherty wasted no time proving he was an elite coach at the Division I level by being named the 2023 Conference USA Coach of the Year in his first season. Daugherty led the Blazers to an overall record of 29-25 and a league mark of 16-8.
Daugherty led Senior catcher Sierra Fraizer to new heights in 2023 as Fraizer earned Conference USA Player of the Year. Frazier started all 52 and led the team in batting average (.340), home runs (12), RBI (45), total bases (95), walks (20), slugging (.674) and on base percentage (.436). In the process, Fraizer became UAB’s career leader in RBI in 2023.
Overall, UAB had six players earn postseason accolades in Daugherty’s first season. Fraizer was a First Team All-Conference USA honoree, while Olivia Valbak, Bella Wiggins and Leigha Kirby were Second Team selections, while Hannah Miles and Caitlin Russell were selected to the All-Freshman Team. Aside from Fraizer, all five of those players return in 2024.
A lifelong Alabama native and the 2022 NJCAA National Coaching Staff of the Year, Daugherty came to Birmingham after a tremendously successful six seasons at Wallace State Community College.
Daugherty coached Wallace State to an overall record of 260-58 (.818) in his six seasons, including a record of 111-10 over the last two. The team’s recent success resulted in Daugherty being named the back-to-back Alabama Community College Conference Coach of the Year and NFCA South Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 and 2022.
Daugherty led Wallace State to the NJCAA National Tournament four times in five seasons (excluding 2020 due to COVID). The Lions also won the Alabama Community College Conference/NJCAA Region XXII Championship four times in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022.
Under his guidance, Wallace State had the 2019 ACCC/NJCAA Region XXII Player of the Year, along with the 2021 and 2022 ACCC/NJCAA Region XXII Player and Pitcher of the Year.
Prior to his time at Wallace State, Daugherty started the James Clemens High School program and coached there from 2012-16. In his final season, James Clemens was the No. 1 ranked 7A team for the majority of the season and captured the program’s first Area and Regional Championship en route to finishing fourth overall in the state.
Daugherty spent two seasons as the head softball coach (2010-11) at American Christian Academy before serving as an assistant baseball coach at the same school in 2012. He was also the head softball coach at Holy Spirit Catholic High School in 2009.
Daugherty graduated from the University of Alabama in 2008 with a degree in secondary education – social sciences, and served as a student manager for the Crimson Tide softball team from 2006-08.
He and his wife Allison have two kids, son Connor and daughter Caroline.
Awards and Accolades:
- 2023 Conference USA Coach of the Year
- 2021 & 2022 Alabama Community College Conference Coach of the Year
- 2021 & 2022 NFCA South Regional Coaching Staff of the Year
Daugherty wasted no time proving he was an elite coach at the Division I level by being named the 2023 Conference USA Coach of the Year in his first season. Daugherty led the Blazers to an overall record of 29-25 and a league mark of 16-8.
Daugherty led Senior catcher Sierra Fraizer to new heights in 2023 as Fraizer earned Conference USA Player of the Year. Frazier started all 52 and led the team in batting average (.340), home runs (12), RBI (45), total bases (95), walks (20), slugging (.674) and on base percentage (.436). In the process, Fraizer became UAB’s career leader in RBI in 2023.
Overall, UAB had six players earn postseason accolades in Daugherty’s first season. Fraizer was a First Team All-Conference USA honoree, while Olivia Valbak, Bella Wiggins and Leigha Kirby were Second Team selections, while Hannah Miles and Caitlin Russell were selected to the All-Freshman Team. Aside from Fraizer, all five of those players return in 2024.
A lifelong Alabama native and the 2022 NJCAA National Coaching Staff of the Year, Daugherty came to Birmingham after a tremendously successful six seasons at Wallace State Community College.
Daugherty coached Wallace State to an overall record of 260-58 (.818) in his six seasons, including a record of 111-10 over the last two. The team’s recent success resulted in Daugherty being named the back-to-back Alabama Community College Conference Coach of the Year and NFCA South Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 and 2022.
Daugherty led Wallace State to the NJCAA National Tournament four times in five seasons (excluding 2020 due to COVID). The Lions also won the Alabama Community College Conference/NJCAA Region XXII Championship four times in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022.
Under his guidance, Wallace State had the 2019 ACCC/NJCAA Region XXII Player of the Year, along with the 2021 and 2022 ACCC/NJCAA Region XXII Player and Pitcher of the Year.
Prior to his time at Wallace State, Daugherty started the James Clemens High School program and coached there from 2012-16. In his final season, James Clemens was the No. 1 ranked 7A team for the majority of the season and captured the program’s first Area and Regional Championship en route to finishing fourth overall in the state.
Daugherty spent two seasons as the head softball coach (2010-11) at American Christian Academy before serving as an assistant baseball coach at the same school in 2012. He was also the head softball coach at Holy Spirit Catholic High School in 2009.
Daugherty graduated from the University of Alabama in 2008 with a degree in secondary education – social sciences, and served as a student manager for the Crimson Tide softball team from 2006-08.
He and his wife Allison have two kids, son Connor and daughter Caroline.
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