Houghton College Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics H. “Skip” Lord has announced the hiring of Nora Duffy as the college’s next softball head coach.
Duffy brings playing and coaching experience from two of the most successful programs in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and National Christian College Athletic Association.
“We are thrilled that Coach Duffy will be joining us at Houghton,” said Lord. “She has played and coached for highly successful programs, knows what it takes to lead a team, and is ready to take a young Highlander program to a competitive level. That leadership is also evident in her desire to be a spiritual mentor to her players and her expectations of excellence in the classroom.”
Duffy, a 2011 graduate of Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.), recently completed a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Shorter University in Rome, Ga. While at Shorter, Duffy was part of a program that won 101 games, while capturing an NAIA National Championship in 2012 and finishing as the NCCAA National Championship runner-up in 2013.
As a player at Olivet Nazarene, Duffy was part of the one of the strongest programs in the NAIA. She participated in three NAIA World Series tournaments for a program that won 231 games during her career. During Duffy’s sophomore season, Olivet finished 54-12 and won the NCCAA National Championship.
Duffy was a stalwart behind the plate for the ONU Tigers, starting all 262 games she played. She had a career batting average of .304, registering 207 hits, 38 doubles and 17 homeruns. She earned NCCAA First Team All-America and All-Tournament honors and CCAC All-Conference and All-Tournament honors. Duffy was also named an All-America Scholar-Athlete by both the NCCAA and NAIA.
In addition to her collegiate coaching experience, Duffy has coached the 14, 15, and 16-year-old teams for the New Lenox Lightning and the Homer Hawks Travel team in Illinois. She has also served as a camp instructor at Olivet Nazarene, Shorter, and Bradley-Bourbonnais High School and has taught private lessons in the areas of hitting, pitching, catching, and fielding.
Duffy holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Olivet Nazarene and a master’s degree in leadership from Shorter.