SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford head softball coach Chelsea Butler announced today the addition of Kara Shutt as an assistant coach to the Terrier staff. Shutt comes to Spartanburg after two seasons with Mississippi.
Softball Adds Kara Shutt to Coaching Staff https://t.co/oddIlztKvb
— Wofford Terriers (@WoffordTerriers) July 19, 2022
“First and foremost, Kara is a wonderful human being who exemplifies high character and a positive demeanor on and off the field,” said Butler. “Kara has had the opportunity to learn from some of the best coaches in our game, and I know that her experiences, paired with her own coaching philosophies, will allow Kara to continue to shine. I am thrilled that Kara has decided to join our Wofford Softball family, and I know that our athletes are going to love being around her and learning from her. Wofford Softball got better today!”
Shutt spent the past two seasons as a volunteer assistant with Ole Miss in which she helped the Rebels to a 41-19 campaign that concluded in the Los Angeles Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament in 2022. With Shutt on the staff, Ole Miss posted its fourth-ever 40-win season, and the 39 regular season wins tied for the program record. Her first season in Oxford in 2021 saw the Rebels post a 36-22 record with an appearance in the Tucson Regional, also advancing the finals.
Before joining the Rebel staff, Shutt was a graduate manager at another SEC program with South Carolina. The Gamecocks posted a record over .500 each of Shutt’s two seasons in Columbia, the first of which in 2019 saw South Carolina advance to the finals of the Tallahassee Regional in a 38-19 campaign. The Gamecocks touted a 17-6 clip in 2020 before the season’s untimely end due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Shutt was a key player on the Elon Phoenix as an All-American and three-time All-CAA First Team selection. The outfielder placed on the All-Colonial Athletic Association First Team in each of her final three seasons, and her senior campaign in 2018 was capped with an NFCA All-American Third Team nod and her second NFCA All-Region First Team selection. With 63 career doubles, Shutt is both the Elon and CAA all-time career leader. With 21 doubles in 2016, she set a single-season program record that she replicated in her senior season. Shutt hit .425 as a senior to set the Elon Division I program record for a season. A career .373 hitter, Shutt finished second on the Elon all-time hits leaderboard with 253.
As a freshman, Shutt wasted no time making her presence felt in the Phoenix lineup in 2015, driving in 44 RBI to set the record for most in a season by a freshman and finish second in the program’s single-season record books. With a .331 average, Shutt earned CAA All-Rookie Team and Third-Team NFCA All-Region honors.
A native of Greensboro, N.C., Shutt graduated from Elon with a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2018 and earned her master’s degree in the same field from South Carolina in 2020.
Shutt now returns to the Palmetto State to aid in laying the foundations of the new Wofford softball program, joining Chelsea Butler’s staff alongside Mark Line. The program’s first class of student-athletes will arrive on campus this fall, and the Terriers will first take to the field in the spring of 2024.
**********A few years back, our interview with Kara Shutt, when she was playing basketball for the Southeast Guilford Falcons, and she broke her foot, in the Page game….Great kid, from a great family, and she was on top of game back in the day, and she still is today….Great work turned in over the years, by Kara Shutt….**********
(She was able to get her 1,000th point at SEG, when the Grimsley Whirlies, and Coach Tina Gunn, gave her a shot in a game, vs. SEG, late in that season….Shutt with the shot, and it went in, and she was shooting the shot, it came by Shutt, while she was nursing a broken leg.)
Click On, for the interview below….Good audio, good video, great kid, that Kara Shutt….
Kara is so excited for this opportunity at Wofford. Being able to help build a new softball program will allow her to teach and employ the skills she has learned. Thank you Andy and Greensborosports.com for all the love you have shown Kara through the years. This site is such a great platform for sports in our area. We hope to be able to bring you more exciting softball news from Wofford as this program gets off the ground. Go Terriers!
We talked to Dr. James Kramer about Kara today, and he remembered her foot injury from back at Southeast Guilford, with the girls basketball team…
Kara is one of the good ones, she worked hard, and deserves to be where she is today…
I also remember the Summer she worked for the Grasshoppers, downtown at First National Bank Field…
Her smile would make your day, any day…Great kid, and now a young women who will make a difference…