The 2024-25 season will mark the 12th year of Sara Curran-Headley’s tenure as the head softball coach at SUNY Oneonta.
In Curran-Headley’s time with the program the team has produced 44 All-SUNYAC recipients, two SUNYAC Players of the Year, five SUNYAC Rookies of the Year, one SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year, one SUNYAC Pitcher of the Year and 16 NFCA All-Region players.
The 2024 season saw the Red Dragons reach the SUNYAC Tournament and finish the year at 22-17 overall and 13-5 in the conference. The Red Dragons played three nationally-ranked teams, and competed in a west coast trip to Washington and Oregon. Oneonta picked up the SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year in senior Victoria Hussey and the SUNYAC Rookie of the Year with Emily Brown.
In Curran-Headley’s first season in 2014, she directed the greatest one season turnaround in program history and the fourth best single season improvement in the history of NCAA Division III softball with a 22-win improvement from the previous season. The Red Dragons finished 30-11 after completing an 8-28 season in 2013. Oneonta won the SUNYAC regular season title and capped it off with an 8-0 win against Cortland in the SUNYAC Conference Tournament Championship. The Red Dragons earned the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in program history, its first since the 2004 season.
Curran-Headley arrived in Oneonta after spending the previous ten years as the head coach at Division II Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. During her tenure, she recorded eight, 20-win, seasons while becoming the winningest coach in the program’s history. While at Mercyhurst, she coached 31 All-Conference, 8 NFCA All-Region, 6 Daktronics All-Region and 2 Daktronics All-Americans. She also had a pair of Academic All-Americans with her team consistently holding a team GPA of 3.3 or better. Her 2010 squad finished second on the NFCA Top Ten Academic list with a 3.619 GPA.
Prior to Mercyhurst, Curran-Headley served as the first assistant at Division I Florida International University. The Florida International team made its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance in 2003. Curran-Headley spent two years as a graduate assistant softball coach at the University of Augusta in Augusta, Georgia. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree there in May 2001.
Curran-Headley played her college ball as a catcher at Robert Morris University. She was named All-Northeast Region in 1997, selected to the All-Northeast Conference squads in 1997 and 1998, and was chosen NEC Academic Player of the Year in 1998. She was named ECAC Female Athlete of the Year and Woman of the Year for Robert Morris in 1999. She graduated cum laude from Robert Morris in 1999 with a degree in Business Administration/Sport Management.
Coaching Philosophy:
I believe in utilizing athletics to teach important life skills such as responsibility, time management, and the benefits of hard work while maintaining a competitive athletic environment. I strive to mentor student-athletes and make available the tools needed to be successful in life beyond athletics. I want to share with my student-athletes the necessity of good communication skills, good sportsmanship, and a strong code of ethics in all aspects of their life. I believe in stressing the importance of academics. All student-athletes are students first.
Mission Statement:
To teach and develop student-athletes into healthy and responsible adults that will make a positive impact on their respective communities while simultaneously competing at a high level.
We live in Positivetown. We focus on controlling the controllables. We work on Bouncebackability.
