Nothing Suspicious, Bargfeldt Has Retired After Great Service to Cowgirls

STILLWATER – It just looked suspicious with Oklahoma State Cowgirls softball pitching coach John Bargfeldt disappearing from the school website. I learned about it from a text from a fan during my radio show and then when I looked got the 404 message that the page I was looking for was not there. It turns out that it is no big mustery but Bargfeldt, who came to join head coach Kenny Gajewski’s staff after being the successful head coach at Tulsa is retiring and he left the same way he operated behind the scenes.

“It’s no big secret. He retired and he’s been gone for a week,” Gajewski said on Monday from a softball camp he was working. He said it’s no big problem. They had not made an official announcement and he does not have a successor ready to announce either.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Bargfeldt

Gajewski hired Bargfledt away from the University of Tulsa in June of 2019 and all he has done the last four years is mold the likes of Carrie Eberle, Miranda Elish, Kelly Maxwell, and Lexi Kilfoyl into All-Conference and All-Americans. He started the work with freshman Kyra Aycock this season. 

“I feel like our pitching staff is one of the top two or three in the country,” Cowgirl coach Kenny Gajewski said earlier this season complimenting Bargfeldt’s work. “They just continue to do great things.

“The proof is in the pudding with John,” Gajewski said to The Oklahoman. “He may be the best pitch caller in the game.”

In his four-years in Stillwater he helped Carrie Eberle achieve All-American status. in 2020 Eberle finished the year with the fourth-best ERA in the NCAA with a 0.46 average, while recording a Big 12-best five shutouts. His top product from his time at Oklahoma State has to be Maxwell as he took the lefthander through her freshman season and all the way to her first-team All-American status in 2022 as perhaps, the best pitching in all of college softball. Maxwell dropped off some this past season and was second-team All-American after making her way on to Team USA in the Olympic and World Championship program.

Pokes Report

Bargfeldt works with Kelly Maxwell in the bullpen before a game.

“What you’re going to get from him on a day-to-day basis is the same,” Maxwell told The Oklahoman. “He’s not going to get too high or too low. I think that helps put a calming perspective on it so that whenever we are faced with adversity, we can go back to how we work with him in the bullpen.”

Bargfeldt spent 14 seasons as the head coach at the University of Tulsa, where he built TU into a nationally-prominent program and one of the premier teams in the AAC. He won a conference title (regular season and tournament) in eight of his 14 seasons, totaling 13 league championships and 11 NCAA Regional appearances. Bargfeldt owns the most wins and highest winning percentage in school history and was the program’s longest-tenured head coach.

The Golden Hurricane had a winning record in each of his 14 seasons, and he was the only coach in TU history to post at least four winning seasons. Bargfeldt compiled a career record of 535-270-1 (.664) and won at least 40 games six times.

During his stint as coach, he helped develop six All-Americans, 68 all-conference players, 37 first-team honorees and 27 NFCA all-region selections. In addition, the Golden Hurricane produced 20 C-USA academic medalists, 12 C-USA all-academic team members, four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and six academic all-district student-athletes under Bargfeldt’s watch.

Prior to joining the Golden Hurricane, Bargfeldt was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech for the 2004 season. He worked primarily with the pitchers and catchers and served as the bench coach for the Yellow Jackets. He helped Tech post a 49-17 record, make an NCAA Regional appearance and was instrumental in the success of third-team All-American Jessica Sallinger, who broke 15 school records and finished fourth nationally with a 0.97 earned run average that season.

From 1980-82, Bargfeldt was an assistant baseball coach at Anderson University in Anderson, Ind., where he served as the pitching and hitting coach. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 1981 while coaching at Anderson.

As a student-athlete himself, Bargfeldt was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in football and baseball. He was drafted in the 31st round of the 1977 Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs.

Cowgirls fans need to tip the visor or cap to Bargfeldt and wish him well.