Biogrpahy: Rich Wagner enters his 13th season as the Nighthawks’ head softball coach in the 2024-25 academic year.

Wagner has led an incredible turnaround of the NNU softball program, taking over a team that had not had a winning season in the first 11 years of existence but has now finished at .500 or above in each of the last seven campaigns, including five 30+ win seasons. Since 2018, he has claimed five GNAC Regular Season Championships, three GNAC Tournament Championships, and five NCAA Tournament berths. He earned his 200th win at NNU during his 10th season at the helm in 2022.

In his 12 years, Wagner’s players have earned seven All-American honors, 31 All-Region honors, two Regional Player of the Year awards, 55 All-GNAC honors, two GNAC Player of the Years, five GNAC Pitcher of the Years, four GNAC Freshman of the Years, two GNAC Newcomer of the Years, and two GNAC Championship MVPs. Academically, NNU softball has also registered 15 CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees and 94 Academic All-GNAC recipients.

Wagner’s Nighthawks just keep getting better, setting a new high mark of excellence for the program during the 2024 season. NNU set a new program record for wins in a season, going 41-12 overall and 20-4 in conference play. The Nighthawks won their fourth-straight GNAC Regular Season Championship and qualified for NCAA Regionals for the fourth year in a row. This year, however, NNU hosted the West Regional for the first time in program history as the two-seed and went 2-2 at the regional pod. The Nighthawks were ranked in the NFCA Top 25 all season, rising as high as 13th nationally on April 30. NNU ranked sixth in all of Division II with a 1.56 ERA, 10th with a 1.07 WHIP, and 12th with 16 shutouts. Sidney Booth was recognized as an All-American by two national outlets as well as the D2CAA West Region Pitcher of the Year and GNAC Pitcher of the Year. Emma Mulligan was also named All-Region and four other Nighthawks also earned All-GNAC honors.

The 2023 season was likely the best yet for Wagner and the Nighthawks, as NNU set program records for overall wins (39-17 record) and conference wins (21-3 mark in the GNAC). NNU won the GNAC regular season title by six games and flew to the GNAC tournament title with a 3-0 mark at the tourney with just three runs allowed in the three victories. The Nighthawks then advanced to NCAA Regionals for the fourth time in the last five full seasons, where they came as close as could be to their first NCAA Super Regional appearance, winning three games at the regional before falling in the title game. NNU allowed three runs or less in each of their last 14 games and 20 of the final 21 contests. In the circle, the Nighthawks led the GNAC and ranked 20th in the nation with a 1.96 team ERA and 15th nationally with a 1.08 WHIP. Outfielder Maia McNicoll and utility/pitcher Tori Hensley were consensus All-Region honorees while Sidney Booth also earned one regional accolade. McNicoll was the GNAC Player of the Year, leading seven All-GNAC honorees, with Wagner also receiving his fourth GNAC Coach of the Year honor (third in a row).

The Nighthawks had another great season in 2022, going 35-21 overall and 18-6 in GNAC play to set a new program record for wins in a season. NNU won their second-straight GNAC Regular Season Championship and went on to also take the GNAC Tournament Title. The Nighthawks then won their opener at the NCAA West Regional over top seed Cal State San Marcos. Sidney Booth and Ivy Hommel were both consensus All-Region picks, while Booth was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Year for the second-straight season and Charlotte Forniss was the GNAC Freshman of the Year. Six total Nighthawks were named All-Conference, with Wagner also earning the GNAC Coach of the Year honor for the second year in a row.

The Nighthawks made history in 2021, equaling the program record for wins in a season while taking their first-ever NCAA Championships victory with a 2-1 win over Central Washington in their second NCAA Regional appearance. NNU finished the campaign with an overall record of 31-14 and an 11-5 mark in conference play, good enough to claim the GNAC regular season title for the second time in school history. Following the season, Wagner was named the GNAC Coach of the Year.

In 2019, NNU earned the second GNAC playoff berth in program history behind a group of 10 seniors, who left the school with nearly every record imaginable at that point.

In 2018, the Nighthawks set program records for wins in a season, conference wins in a season, winning the first GNAC regular-season title, winning the first GNAC conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the first time.

Wagner has over two decades of coaching experience with college-level student-athletes, having served as an assistant coach with the Northwest Nazarene baseball program from 2001 to 2005 and as a head coach in the Boise Collegiate Summer League (BSL) from 2007 to 2011.

Also, in the 2021-22 year he began a three-year term on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee for softball.

Wagner graduated from NNU in 1999 with a degree in Political Science and enjoyed a four-year baseball career at Northwest Nazarene. He earned the Eldon Beer Baseball Award in 1995 as the top freshman player and was a second-team All-Cascade Collegiate Conference team member in both 1997 and 1998.

“I have had a passion for this institution since I came to campus, having the opportunity to start my collegiate career in 1994 as a student-athlete, my coaching career as an assistant in 2001 and now leading the softball team is like a dream come true,” Wagner said.

Off the field, Wagner served as a Intensive Behavioral Interventionist from 2002 to 2012 with both Advocates For Inclusion and Community Partnerships of Idaho.