The 2025-2026 season will mark the 13th 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 48 All-SUNYAC recipients, three SUNYAC Players of the Year, five SUNYAC Rookies of the Year, two SUNYAC Defensive Players of the Year, one SUNYAC Pitcher of the Year and 17 NFCA All-Region players. In 2025, Julia Serena was tabbed as the program’s first All-American. Serena was also named as the SUNYAC Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year, also a first for SUNY Oneonta Softball.
The Red Dragons finished with an overall record of 20-19 in 2025. The team finished 10-6 in the SUNYAC regular season and made it to the SUNYAC Championship final before bowing out to Cortland. The team saw 4 All-SUNYAC players, the SUNYAC Player of the Year and the SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year. And, as mentioned, Julia Serena garnered 1st Team All-Region honors and the program’s first All-American!
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.
