Who Is St. Cloud State's New Softball Coach Shane Bouman?

St. Cloud State has a new softball coach but he not unfamiliar with the school. Shane Bouman is the 8th coach in SCSU softball history. He takes over a program that went 46-15 and lost in the NCAA Division II tournament Central Regional under head coach Mitch Roberts in 2026.

History of Success

Bouman has a long coaching history of more than 25 years with more than 550 coaching wins. He has spent the last 8 seasons at Northwestern in Iowa. He led the Red Raiders to a record of 271-108 in 8 seasons and that included a school record 50 wins in 2024.

Reasons He Likes SCSU

Bouman says the job at SCSU was appealing to him for a lot of reasons from a personal standpoint and the quality of the program and University. He is very optimistic about where the program is at and the direction they are headed.

Playing Translates to Coaching

Shane has experience playing at a world class level and has followed that up with a successful coaching career. He says the game is largely the same whether it's being played by males or females. Bouman believes the NSIC is the best Division II conference in many sports and that includes softball.

Athletes Returning

Bouman is excited to retain the majority of the athletes who had eligibility to stay with the program and he really likes the recruiting class that's coming in. He likes playing their home games on the artificial surface of Husky Stadium and sees many advantages to playing on a consistent field.

Brother Todd

Shane's brother Todd, was a former football and basketball player at St. Cloud State. Todd went on to play 10-plus seasons in the NFL. Shane says Todd has a been a great, supportive brother who he expects will be coming back to SCSU to support his brother's team.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Shane Bouman, click below.