Two can be better than one

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Auburn softball’s Chris and Kate Malveaux out to prove two can be better than one

Updated: Jun. 18, 2024, 2:29 p.m.|Published: Jun. 18, 2024, 2:13 p.m.

6–7 minutes

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Chris and Kate Malveaux, the married couple that recently took the reins of the Auburn softball program as co-head coaches, understand their situation is a bit unorthodox.

“I don’t think too often you get to hear from two head coaches at once. That’s probably a new thing,” Kate Malveaux joked as she took the podium after her husband addressed the media at Tuesday’s introductory press conference at Auburn’s Woltosz Football Performance Center.

While different, a husband-and-wife co-head coach arrangement isn’t unheard of.

At Tennessee, where the Malveauxs recently served as assistant coaches, Ralph and Karen Weekly did it — successfully — for two decades.

“They gave us the blueprint that husbands and wives can do it,” Kate Malveaux said, referencing the Weeklys.

Despite coming to Auburn with the blueprint in hand, there were still plenty of questions about how the co-head coach distinctions would shake out once the cleats hit the dirt of Auburn’s Jane B. Moore Field next softball season.

”Whenever you’re talking about on-field responsibilities, a lot of the conversations have been had before,” Kate Malveaux assured.

Chris Malveaux comes to Auburn after having spent three seasons as an assistant with the Lady Vols. Prior to his time in Knoxville, Chris Malveaux served a similar role at Missouri for three years.

Along the way, Malveaux earned the reputation of being a great offensive mind.

In the 2024 season, Malveaux helped lead Tennessee’s lineup to impressive hitting numbers as the Lady Vols posted an SEC-best 1.50 home runs per game and ended the season with 84 total home runs — the third-most in Tennessee history.

In 2023, Malveaux had a hand in coaching the SEC’s highest-scoring offense as the Lady Vols averaged 6.87 runs per game, which ranked third nationally.

“That’s his claim to fame – building offenses,” Kate Malveaux said of her husband.

Meanwhile, like her husband, Kate Malveaux was also an assistant coach on Tennessee’s staff in 2024, but primarily coached the program’s catchers and baserunners.

“I’m going to hopefully take some of that responsibility that goes onto one person off so that he can stay in that offensive role because we all know that sometimes you’ve gotta give a little bit in these roles to be able to manage an entire team and not just an offense,” Kate Malveaux said.

“Chris hit on it: What he is, may not be my strength and my strengths may not be his. Every head coach is going to have flaws… every single one of them. You don’t get have those flaws because you get both and I think that’s what makes this really unique. We’re going to divide the duties, but we’re going to make sure that he can be in the cages to help run this offense.”

When the Tigers are competing between the chalked lines, Chris Malveaux will serve as the “speaking, acting head coach,” Kate Malveaux says.

“Obviously there will be times that he’s going to have to make decisions without consulting me and I’ll talk to him about those at home,” Kate Malveaux laughed. “And that is fine and I’ll get over it.”

“Will you?,” her chuckling husband said in response.

Nonetheless, should Chris Malveaux want to spend more time in the dugout during games, his wife isn’t afraid to be the one out on third base.

“I’ve been around this game plenty, I’ve been around the SEC plenty, I can do that,” Kate Malveaux said. “I think that’s the cool thing – we’ve both done it.”

With years of combined SEC experience under their belt, the Malveauxs know how cutthroat the league is — not to mention what it’ll be like when Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC in less than two weeks.

“That’s what makes it so much fun. With the addition of those two, you really have no room for error. It was already a tough conference to maneuver through week by week,” Chris Malveaux said of the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, which just played each other in the Women’s College World Series championship.

That said, the Malveauxs know Auburn’s roster needs some retooling to help them become more competitive in the league.

“Obviously we’ve gotta make a jump. We’ve gotta climb the ranks sooner rather than later,” Chris Malveaux said.

As of now, the newly hired co-head coaches are expecting those who haven’t already entered the transfer portal to return to Auburn next season.

The Tigers have seen Riley McNemar, Mariah Penta and Annabelle Widra all enter their names into the transfer portal so far.

Meanwhile, the Malveauxs have done a bit of poking around the portal themselves.

“We are involved in the portal, you know, only for certain people that have been proven or we know, ‘Man, if they can put this and this together, they’re going to help us make that jump sooner rather than later,’” Chris Malveaux said. “We want this culture to take a step forward. Let’s get a little bit more where the players that are here are competitive and understand that work ethic. But sometimes, to make it a little bit easier, we also want to bring others in to set that example and we can see that firsthand. We want to be able to make that jump forward as soon as possible and we want to make sure we have the right people here.”

Not ignorant to Auburn’s previous success in softball, both Chris and Kate Malveaux are committed to helping the Tigers’ program replicate its past success.

Auburn hasn’t appeared in the Women’s College World Series since 2016, when it finished as the country’s runner-up.

“It’s been a national powerhouse, it’s been a runner-up in the World Series, and that’s where we want to get to,” Chris Malveaux said.

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