Mary Yori is in her 5th season as the head softball coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2020. She was hired in June 2015 as the first full-time head softball coach at NWU.
Coach Yori has compiled an 83-69 overall record in four seasons with the Prairie Wolves. She was the 2016 AD3I All-Independent Co-Coach of the Year in her first season leading the Prairie Wolves squad.
Last year, Coach Yori surpassed the 800-career win total as a head coach. She has compiled an 818-469 (.636) overall record in 25 years as a collegiate head coach.
Her 2019 team ended the season with a 22-14 overall record, the best winning percentage she has compiled during her tenure at NWU. The Prairie Wolves finished tied for 6th in the American Rivers Conference standings and just missed out on the postseason conference tournament due to a tiebreaker.
During the 2018 season, she guided NWU to a 22-18 overall record and a 4th place finish in the Iowa Conference. NWU qualified for the conference postseason tournament, advancing to the semifinal round. The 22 victories were the most for a Prairie Wolves softball team since 2010.
In 2017 the Prairie Wolves posted an 18-18 record in their first season competing exclusively as a NCAA Division III program. The team posted a 15-6 non-conference record, including an upset victory over #14 Moravian on their trip to Florida.
Back in 2016 in her first season with the Prairie Wolves, Yori guided NWU to a 21-19 overall record and came up just one game away from the national tournament. NWU earned a spot in the GPAC Postseason Tournament and won three games before being eliminated one game before the title game. It was the 8th time that an NWU softball team posted a 20-win season.
She had six players earn All-Conference recognition in her first year, including 1st-Team selection Rachel Kubik who was only the third player in NWU history to become a two-time 1st-Team honoree. In 2017, Yori had Madi Francis earn CoSIDA Academic All-America recognition and she had 11 players named NFCA/NCAA III Scholar Athletes. Last season, three players were 1st-Team All-Conference selections and Kailey Meyer was named NFCA All-Region.
Overall, Yori has coached five 1st-Team All-Conference players and 12 total All-Conference players. Three of her players have received NFCA All-Region recognition.
In 2016, Yori’s first team finished the year with a 2.75 ERA to rank 6th on the all-time charts and the team fielding percentage of .955 was tied for third best in program history.
Yori has an extensive softball coaching background at all levels of play. Prior to coming to NWU, Yori served as the Director of Coach and Player Development for the TEAM Nebraska Softball organization.
For 10 years, she was the head coach at Colorado State University. She amassed a record of 276-242 and became the program’s all-time winningest coach. During her tenure at CSU she earned two Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year awards and guided the Rams to the 2003 MWC tournament title and 2004 regular season championship.
Prior to Colorado State, Yori served as head softball coach at University of Nebraska-Omaha putting together a winning record of 459-158 from 1988-99. During that time, she guided the program to 10 consecutive NCAA regional tournament appearances and UNO won the North Central Conference championship in 1994, ’95, ’96 and ’97.
At UNO, she won nearly 75 percent of the games she coached, the fifth highest figure in NCAA Division II history. She was inducted into the UNO Hall of Fame in 2007 for her coaching accomplishments.
She started her coaching career as an assistant at her alma mater, Creighton University. She played for the Blue Jays, earning All-America honors twice and was inducted into the Creighton Hall of Fame in 1992.
Yori also serves as the intramural director at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
