2026 NJCAA Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Inductees Announced
Charlotte, NC – The NJCAA has announced four honorees to be inducted into the NJCAA Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Two student athletes and two coaches have been selected to join the 2026 class. Read below for more on Andy Lee, Courtney Gettins, Michele Chia-Cook, and Robert Iamurri.
Andy Lee | Coach | Northwest Florida State, LSU-Eunice (LA) & Hinds (MS)
Andy Lee currently serves as head softball coach at Northwest Florida State College, a role he has held since 2020. While he is only in his seventh season with the Raiders, he has been coaching softball in the NJCAA since 2006, where his head coaching career started at his alma mater, Hinds Community College. In his head coach tenure, he has guided teams to seven national championships and has been named NJCAA National Coach of the Year four times.
At Northwest Florida State, Lee has led the program through a historic stretch of success. The 2024 season saw continued dominance as the Raiders set a then-program record with 58 wins, went 23-0 at home, and finished 19-1 in conference play. The team captured a second-straight conference title and finished fourth at the NJCAA World Series, with multiple players earning All-Region, All-America, and NFCA honors. Several sophomores from that roster went on to sign with NCAA Division I programs. In 2025, the Raiders set a program record with 61 wins, went 20-0 in conference play, and won their first NJCAA Division I National Championship. The team capped the season with five straight wins at the NJCAA World Series, including back-to-back victories over the No. 1 seed Florida SouthWestern State, earning Lee both Coach of the Tournament and NJCAA National Coach of the Year honors.
Prior to his time at Northwest Florida State, Lee formed a dominant program at LSU-Eunice, where he posted a 582-107 overall record across 11 seasons. The Bengals reached 11 region tournaments and made nine NJCAA national championship appearances, winning six NJCAA Division II titles. Lee guded 47 All-Region selections, 23 NJCAA All-America recipients, and helped 44 players move on to four-year programs from LSU-Eunice. He earned Region 23 Coach of the Year five times and was named NJCAA Division II Coach of the Year four seasons.
Courtney Gettins | Student-Athlete | Florida SouthWestern State
Courtney Gettins began her collegiate career at Florida SouthWestern State where she became one of the most decorated pitchers in NJCAA Division I softball history. Over two seasons (2016–2017), she compiled a 73–7 career record on the mound, along with a 1.46 ERA and 0.90 WHIP, while setting multiple program records for the Buccaneers, including career wins (73), strikeouts (518), innings pitched (523), complete games (68), and shutouts (21).
As a freshman in 2016, Gettins earned some of the highest individual honors in junior college softball, including the Dudley NJCAA Division I National Pitcher of the Year, Fastpitch News National Pitcher of the Year, and NFCA First Team All-American recognition. She also earned Suncoast Conference Pitcher of the Year, FCSAA Region 8 First Team All-State, and All-Tournament honors. In her sophomore season, she continued to receive national recognition, earning NJCAA First Team All-America honors, NFCA First Team All-American, and FCSAA Female Athlete of the Year. She was also named FCSAA Region 8 Pitcher of the Year and Suncoast Conference Pitcher of the Year, while receiving multiple all-region and all-conference selections.
Gettins continued playing at the NCAA Division I level at the University of Alabama and later transitioned into coaching. She has also served in coaching roles across multiple collegiate programs and is currently involved with Florida SouthWestern State as a volunteer assistant coach. In recognition of her accomplishments, she was inducted into the FCSAA Hall of Fame in 2024.
Michele Chia-Cook | Student-Athlete | Crowder (MO)
Michele Chia Cook was a standout pitcher for Crowder College from 1985–1986 and is regarded as one of the most accomplished players in the program's history. During her collegiate career, she earned NJCAA All-America honors in both 1985 and 1986 and played a central role in one of the most successful seasons in NJCAA softball history.
In 1986, Cook helped lead Crowder College to a Region 16 Championship, District Championship, and NJCAA National Championship. That championship run included a remarkable all-around performance in which she pitched every inning of the national tournament (61 innings total), allowing just 36 hits and 5 runs while recording 33 strikeouts. She was named Most Valuable Player of the 1986 NJCAA National Tournament and became the only pitcher in tournament history to record four shutouts in a single championship run.
Her performance during the 1986 season contributed to several team and individual records that still stand at Crowder College, including most wins in a season (39) and most shutouts in a season (40). Individually, she also holds program pitching records for lowest career ERA (0.40 across 1985–1986), lowest single-season ERA (0.29 in 1986), fewest earned runs allowed in a season (11), and most innings pitched in a season (313). She also recorded a notable single-game performance of 21 consecutive strikeouts. Following her time at Crowder, she continued her playing career at Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University.
Robert Iamurri | Coach | Florida SouthWestern State
Robert Iamurri is the head softball coach at Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW), where he has led the Buccaneers since the program's inaugural season in 2016. In an 11-year span with the program, Iamurri has guided the Buccaneers to a 521–65 overall record, including a dominant 190–17 mark in conference play. His teams have won nine consecutive Suncoast Conference championships, four FCSAA/Region VIII state titles, and made eight appearances at the NJCAA national tournament.
At the national level, Iamurri led FSW to an unprecedented three consecutive NJCAA National Championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023, making the Buccaneers only the second NJCAA Division I program ever to accomplish a three-peat and the first in over 30 years. The program also finished as NJCAA National Runner-Up in 2025 and has made multiple deep postseason runs, including four national championship game appearances in five seasons.
Iamurri received his Associate in Arts degree from Florida SouthWestern State when the school was known as Edison Junior College.
