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Head Coach James Landreneau

 

  • 13th Year at McNeese; 9th Year as Head Coach
  • Career Record: 298-161
  • Southland Conference Record: 140-37
  • .649 overall winning percent (4th overall in SLC/first among active coaches)
  • leads the Southland with a .790 winning percent in conference games 
  • 298 career wins ranks him 9th among the SLC 
  • 140 conference wins ranks him 9th overall
  • Three-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year (2024, 2022, 2017)
  • Louisiana Coach of the Year (2022)
  • Five 40-win seasons (2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • Two 30-win seasons (2019, 2021)
  • Four SLC Regular Season Titles (2017, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • Five SLC Tournament Titles (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023)
  • Six postseason appearances (5 NCAA Tourn., 1 NISC Tourn.)
  • 12-2 SLC Tournament record in lasts four seasons 

James Landreneau is in his 13th overall season and ninth as head coach with a 298-161 overall career record and 140-37 conference record.  He picked up his 250th career win on May 5, 2023 at Houston Christian, becoming the second McNeese head softball coach to reach this milestone.  He is the only coach in McNeese and Southland Conference history to guide a team to Southland Conference regular season (2022, 2023, 2024) and Southland Conference Tournament title (2021, 2022, 2023) three-peat's. 

Landreaneau has the best overall winning percent (.649) among active coaches and the fourth best overall winning percent in conference history.  He also has the best conference games winning percent at .790 and ranks ninth in both career wins (298) and conference (140) wins.  

In 2024, Landreneau guided the Cowgirls to its fifth 40-win season with a 40-20 record, fourth regular season Southland Conference title with 22-2 record, a regular season title three-peat (2022, 2023, 2024), and its seventh Southland Conference Tournament appearance. 

For leading the Cowgirls to its third consecutive regular season title in 2024, Landreneau was named SLC "coach of the Year" for the third time.

For the second straight year in 2023, Landreneau guided the Cowgirls to the NCAA Regional championship game (Seattle, Washington) and ended the season ranked No. 22 by D1 Softball.  Landreneau's staff was named the NFCA South Region "Coaching Staff of the Year".  Landreneau also guided McNeese to the Southland Conference regular season title and a 3-Peat Repeat as Southland Conference Tournament Champs.

The Cowgirls ended the 2023 season with a school record 47 wins (47-16) and a 21-3 conference record.  The 40 wins marks the fourth 40-win season under Landreneau.  Included in the 47 victories was a 3-2 home wins over Washington who was ranked #12 at the time and a 4-3 over #15 LSU.

Also in 2023, Landreneau guided a team that led the nation in double plays per game with 0.59 per contest.

In 2022, Landreneau guided McNeese to a 40-21 overall record and its deepest run in the NCAA Tournament in 2022, advancing to the regional championship game (Evanston, Illinois) for the first time in school history.  On its way to the regional championship game against Northwestern, a team that advanced to the Women's College World Series, the Cowgirls picked up two win over Notre Dame.

Landreneau guided McNeese to the regular season and SLC tournament title for the fourth time under his direction in 2022, earning his second Southland Conference "Coach of the Year" honor after posting a 15-3 conference record.  Landreneau was also named Louisiana "Coach of the Year" for his accomplishments. 

In 2021, Landreneau's team led the nation with 48 double plays turned, has guided McNeese to four straight Southland Conference Tournaments and four postseason tournaments including back-to-back Southland Conference Tournament Titles (2017, 2018), one regular season title (2017), three NCAA Regionals (2017, 2018, 2020) along with a NISC (National Invitational Softball Championship) Regional Tournament appearance in 2019, is in his 10th overall season at McNeese and sixth season as head coach of the Cowgirls.

Following a year that saw the Covid pandemic cancel the 2020 season followed by Hurricanes Laura and Delta that hit Lake Charles six weeks apart in August and September of 2020 along with a rare freeze in February of 2021 that crippled not only the softball facility but the entire city of Lake Charles, the Cowgirls gave McNeese and Lake Charles something to cheer about. 

Following the destruction, the Cowgirls rebuilt the best they could in order to have a playing field and a season, and it was a season that won't be forgotten. McNeese, who entered the Southland Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed, went on to defeat Sam Houston, second seeded Central Arkansas in the second round, the regular season champion and the tournament's top seed Stephen F. Austini n the semifinals before defeating Central Arkansas 1-0 in the championship game and the NCAA automatic bid.

Freshman pitcher Whitney Tate was named the tournament's MVP, who was joined on the all-tournament team by Cori McCrary, Kaylee Lopez, Toni Perrin, Jenna Edwards, and Haylee Brinlee.

The Cowgirls ended the 2021 season with a 35-26 overall record and an 18-9 conference record. Edwards was named the SLC Newcomer of the Year while McCrary and Brinlee were named to the All-SLC first team. Tate, Lopez and Jil Poullard were named to the second team while Chloe Gomez was a third team selection. 

In five years as head coach, Landreneau has coached two All-Americans (Erika Piancastelli, Justyce McClain), 21 All-Southland Conference selections, Four SLC Hitters and Players of the Year, one SLC Newcomer of the Year (Jenna Edwards/2021), four All-Region picks, and 12 All-Louisiana selections.

Former Olympian and All-American Erika Piancastelli was a four time SLC Player and Hitter of the Year, the SLC softball Student-Athlete of the Year (2017, 2018) and to the CoSIDA District 6 All-Academic Team twice (2017, 2018). In 2018, Piancastelli was named Louisiana’s Hitter of the Year.

With the 2020 season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cowgirls were off to a 19-7 overall record and 3-0 Southland Conference record. The Cowgirls opened their season by winning 14 of their first 16 games including a win at Texas A&M and wins over North Texas, Ball State, UAB, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss., and UT-Arlington. Of the 14 wins, six were run-rule victories. McNeese was looking to win a conference best, seven regular season titles and started the season with a conference opening home series sweep over Abilene Christian. After a 6-3 road win at UL-Monroe on March 11, the season was canceled.

In 2019, Landreneau guided McNeese to its first NISC South Regional Tournament appearance where the Cowgirls fell 4-3 in 10 innings to Texas-Arlington in the championship game. Earlier in the day, the Cowgirls defeated UTA 6-1 to force the "If Necessary" game. McNeese picked up its first NISC Tournament win with a 7-3 victory over Middle Tennessee State University. The Cowgirls then fell 5-3 to UTA before bouncing back with a 3-1 win over Stephen F. Austin to advance to the championship games against UTA.

The Cowgirls ended the regular season (33-32) and finished in third place in the Southland Conference race with a 19-8 record. McNeese advanced to its 24th overall SLC Tournament, and fourth straight postseason tournament. After dropping its first game of the tournament, McNeese fought their way back but fell one game short of reaching the tournament championship game.

The 30-win season is the third straight under Landreneau who reached a coaching milestone during the 2019 season when he picked up his 100th career victory with a 1-0 win at Houston Baptist in the second game of the SLC series on March 29, 2019.      

Landreneau continued the winning tradition in 2018 and posted his second consecutive 40-win season with a 41-21 overall record along with winning the Southland Conference Tournament and earned the NCAA automatic bid for the second straight year under his leadership. The Cowgirls finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second place with an 18-9 conference record.   

In 2018, McNeese broke into a major poll (USA Today/NFCA Top 25) for the first time in school history following the first week of the season that saw the Cowgirls go 4-0 with wins over Virginia and preseason No. 20 Tulsa. The Cowgirls ranked 24th in the USA Today/NFCA poll and 23rd in the FPN (Fastpitch News) Poll.

McNeese also picked up a 6-1 win at Florida State, the 2018 National Champions who was ranked 9th at the time and opened the NCAA Regional Tournament at Texas A&M with an 11-10 win over No. 18 Baylor.

As a team, the Cowgirls broke five school records and Erika Piancastelli completed her stellar career by breaking a combined 20 records (McNeese and SLC) including 13 career records.    

The Cowgirls offense continued to produce in 2018, leading the Southland Conference in 13 offensive categories (wins-41, slugging percent-.463, on base percent-.407, runs scored-361, RBI-319, home runs-59, total bases-734, total plate appearances-1,967, at bats-1,585, walks-283, sacrifice flies-27, innings pitched-413.1, and putouts-1,237). McNeese was second in the league with a .291 batting average, 461 hits, and 283 stolen bases while ranking third in doubles with 76.  

In 2017, Landreneau guided McNeese to a school record 24 conference wins, tied the school record with 43 (43-18) wins, the 2017 Southland Conference regular season title, the SLC Tournament title and an NCAA Regional appearance as well as being named the league’s Coach of the Year in his first season as head coach.

Landreneau, a key component on the McNeese Cowgirls’ softball coaching staff the previous four years, continued the Cowgirl success in 2017.

The Cowgirls broke a combined nine records (8 McNeese, 1 SLC) and tied six school records and led the SLC in 15 statistical categories including 11 offensive categories in 2017. The Cowgirls broke the McNeese single season RBI (320), runs scored (361) and walks (216) records while leading the SLC with a .296 batting average, .460 slugging percent, .399 on base percent, 368 runs scored, 471 hits, 325 RBI, 85 doubles, 52 homeruns and 229 walks. His pitching staff ranked third in the league with a 2.58 ERA and fourth in strikeouts with 229.

Under Landreneau’s leadership, he coached the 2017 & 2018 SLC Player and Hitter of the Year (Erika Piancastelli) along with the 2017 Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year (Rachel Smith).

After starting the 2017 season with a 5-9 record, Landreneau guided the Cowgirls to a 38-9 record the rest of the way including a 12-game winning streak and won 13 of their last 15 games.

In his previous four years at McNeese, the Cowgirls compiled a 157-66 overall record and an 83-20 mark in Southland Conference play was apart of three conference championships (2013, 2014, 2016) while coaching three league player of the year recipients.

In 2016, Landreneau coached an offense that was led by two-time NFCA All-American catcher and Southland Conference Player and Hitter of the Year Erika Piancastelli as the Cowgirls won the league regular season and tournament championships while playing in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regionals where they beat former national champion Arizona State in the opening round.

The Cowgirls, who won a school record 43 games, led the league in hitting (.305), slugging (.460), on-base percentage (.409), runs scored (350), hits (466), runs batted in (292), doubles (88), total bases (702) and hit by pitches (81).

In addition to the record number of victories, the Cowgirls also set school records in runs scored, RBI, batters hit, walks (201) and on-base percentage.

In 2015, Landreneau’s offense broke or tied four single season records while Piancastelli became the first player in Southland Conference history to be voted as the league’s Player, Hitter and Freshman of the Year in the same season.

McNeese posted a .968 fielding percentage that season to rank 36th in the nation. The Cowgirls finished the season ranked fourth in the league with 61 doubles that year as they finished with a 38-15 overall record and a conference championship mark of 19-5.

In 2014, the Cowgirls repeated as conference champions with a 20-6 league record and 40-17 mark overall.

McNeese led the league in stolen bases three consecutive years and ranked in the top 10 in the nation for two seasons while he was an assistant.

In 2014, the Cowgirls topped the conference and ranked 19th in the nation with 86 doubles and led the league with a .435 slugging percentage while setting single-season school records in runs scored and on-base percentage while tying records in triples and hit-by-pitches.

Landreneau coached and developed Alanna DiVittorio who broke a combined nine McNeese and Southland Conference records her senior season and was named the league’s player and hitter of the year for 2014.

DiVittorio also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors that season to become just the second softball player in school history to earn the prestigious award.

The native of Mamou, La. resides in Lake Charles with his two children, Aubrey and Jaxon.