John Bargfeldt - Assistant Coach - Cowgirl Softball Coaches

John Bargfeldt

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
john.bargfeldt@okstate.edu
Phone:
(405) 744-4655

John Bargfeldt is in his 19th season as a collegiate softball coach in the state of Oklahoma, and his fourth as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State.

He spent 14 seasons as head coach at the University of Tulsa, where he built TU into a nationally-prominent program and one of the premier teams in the AAC.

The Cowgirls’ pitching staff under Bargfeldt was among the best in the country in 2022, headlining an OSU team that made a trip to the NCAA Women’s College World Series for a third-consecutive year.

With Bargfeldt as their pitching coach, Kelly Maxwell, Miranda Elish and Morgan Day each tallied more than 100 strikeouts on the year, becoming the first trio of Cowgirl pitchers to do so in a single season.

In total, the group combined for 557 strikeouts and tallied 9.57 strikeouts per seven innings in 2022; both marks rank second in Oklahoma State’s single season program history.
Maxwell and Elish went on to be named All-Americans, while Day was honored as the 2022 Big 12 Softball Championship’s Most Outstanding Player.

Bargfeldt helped the Cowgirls reach the Women’s College World Series in 2021 by mentoring an OSU pitching staff that led the Big 12 and ranked 10th nationally with a 1.81 team earned run average. The Cowgirls of 2021 posted 18 shutouts to rank 13th in the NCAA. In 2020, his staff ranked third in the NCAA with a 1.20 ERA.

Right-hander Carrie Eberle earned All-America honors under Bargfeldt in 2020 and again in 2021 before moving on to the professional ranks. Stepping up as the ace of the Cowgirls’ staff in 2022, Maxwell was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and a unanimous first team All-American.

With Bargfeldt’s guidance, Eberle and Maxwell combined to throw six no-hitters and two perfect games for Oklahoma State during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In two seasons under Bargfeldt, Eberle won 88 percent of her decisions, posted a 1.13 ERA, was honored as 2021 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and also secured CoSIDA Academic All-America honors that same season.

During his time on the east side of the state, Bargfeldt won a conference title (regular season and tournament) in eight of his 14 seasons. He totaled 13 league championships and 11 NCAA Regional appearances. Bargfeldt owns the most wins and highest winning percentage in school history and was the program’s longest-tenured head coach.

The Golden Hurricane had a winning record in each of his 14 seasons, and he was the only coach in TU history to post at least four winning seasons.

Bargfeldt compiled a career record of 535-270-1 (.664) and won at least 40 games six times. During his tenure as coach, he helped develop six All-Americans, 68 all-conference players, 37 first-team honorees and 27 NFCA all-region selections.

In addition, the Golden Hurricane produced 20 C-USA academic medalists, 12 C-USA all-academic team members, four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and six Academic All-District honorees under his watch.

Bargfeldt has been praised nationally for his success coaching pitchers throughout his tenure at Tulsa.

He assisted heavily in the development of 2017 All-American Emily Watson.

Bargfeldt also worked with Tulsa freshman Chenise Delce, coaching the youngster to a 15-6 record in 26 appearances. Delce made 23 starts, tossed 10 complete games, struck out 124 batters and posted a 1.63 ERA in 141.2 innings pitched during her first collegiate season.

He also coached three-time NFCA All-American Aimee Creger during her historic career at Tulsa.

Prior to joining the Golden Hurricane, Bargfeldt was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech for the 2004 season. He worked primarily with the pitchers and catchers and served as the bench coach for the Yellow Jackets.

He helped Tech post a 49-17 record, make an NCAA Regional appearance and was instrumental in the success of third-team All-American Jessica Sallinger, who broke 15 school records and finished fourth nationally with a 0.97 earned run average that season.

From 1980-82, Bargfeldt was an assistant baseball coach at Anderson University in Anderson, Ind., where he served as the pitching and hitting coach.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in 1981 while coaching at Anderson.

As a student-athlete himself, Bargfeldt was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in football and baseball. He was drafted in the 31st round of the 1977 Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs.

Bargfeldt is a former ASA national player representative, and was also a member of the ASA National Board of Directors (2000-04). He served on the men’s national team selection committee during that time as well. As a member of the board, he assisted with the selection of the coaching staff and the national team members. The 2002 team won the program’s first Pan-American qualifier gold medal.

As a member of the ASA Men’s Fastpitch National Team in 1991, Bargfeldt won a silver medal at the Pan American Games as the starting shortstop. In 1993, he was on the gold medal-winning team at the U.S. Sports Festival. He was also a five-time ASA Men’s Fastpitch All-American.

Bargfeldt and his wife, Barbara, have three children: Kenny, Alexya and Jeb.