Softball coach moves on after 14 seasons

Noren leaves PLU after his 402nd win; relocates to Life Christian

Tyler Scott - scotttj@plu.edu

Mast sports reporter

As sophomore Carly Starke’s ball cleared the left field fence April 27, an era in Pacific Lutheran softball came to an end. The walk-off homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning gave Rick Noren his 402nd and final victory as head coach of the Lutes.

Noren has accepted the position of athletic director at Life Christian Academy, meaning that his highly successful 14-year run as softball coach will come to an end this month. The Lutes won their final seven games of the season to pull to an even .500 record at 19-19 on the final day and give Noren his 400th win on his last weekend as coach.

“We never talked about reaching 400 wins as a team at all, but I think they thought it would be a worthwhile achievement, and so when it occurred they all seemed to know that that was the situation,” Noren said. “That was really special.”

In his 14 years at PLU, Noren compiled a 402-145-1 record, leading his team to eight Northwest Conference championship and national tournament competitions. His 2002 team finished the regular season 32-0, achieved the top rank in the country and finished in fourth place at the NCAA Division III College World Series. His 1996 and 1997 teams finished fifth and third, respectively, in the NAIA national tournament.

“There are a lot of great ones. The games are a part of it, but really it’s the people, the relationships, having the alumni come back, the phone calls from former players, the wedding invitations, birth announcements, my kids playing with alumni’s kids. Those are the memories that will really stick around.”

Noren considers this new opportunity as a great new challenge in his life. His children attend the school, which is associated with the church that his family attends. He explains that “outside of PLU, [Life Christian] has been the most important place that my family has been and spends time.”

Life as an athletic director will be completely different from what Noren has grown accustomed to during the past 14 years. While he had numerous administrative duties at PLU involving athletic facility management, game management and handling of student workers, his main job has always been coaching. This will not be the case at Life Christian Academy.

“There have been days at the end of this year when I really say, ‘yeah, I’m going to miss that’,” Noren said. “You miss the post-game opportunities for discussion and meetings, all the pre-game preparation. Practice to me has always been a very much more enjoyable time than the games themselves, and that part of it I will miss.”

Pacific Lutheran athletic director Laurie Turner explained that Noren will be difficult to replace, both in terms of his many commitments to the department itself and his immense success on the softball field.

“He’s been the face of PLU softball for many, many years, and he has had a lot of success in that role,” Turner said. “He’s going to be greatly missed.”

Noren explains that the change will be difficult, but that he believes he is doing what is best for his family, his children and himself. What began as a part-time softball coaching position at his alma mater 14 years ago became a much more intensely active full-time position.

“I know for Rick the opportunity that presented itself was something that he was not going to turn down,” Turner said. “He has put his heart and soul into our softball program and now he is moving on to face a new challenge.”

But while Noren might not be working at PLU full-time after this year, he by no means plans to disappear into the sunset. He talks about the new opportunity to come watch softball games as a spectator and cheer for the team without the pressures of lineup cards and in-game strategy.

“This has been and will always be a great place for my family to call a second home,” Noren said.

“It will always be here and I fully expect that we will always be here. My son is nine years old and even at this time he thinks that this is where he wants to go to school.”

Noren said, the support from the team was fantastic. He explains that the team came together the whole weekend, even coming from behind in the final game to force an extra inning and set up Starke’s game-winning homerun.

“When Carly hit that last homerun, it was one of the best moments that I’ll ever remember from my time here,” Noren said. “It is very rare to have a walk-off homerun, much less to have one in your final game. That was very special.”

When asked how he hopes to be remembered at Pacific Lutheran, Noren reflects on his time here and reveals that he sees himself as only part of a team, even as head coach.

“Never has this been about what Rick Noren believes in,” Noren said. “It is about what the coaching staff believes in, what the department believes in, what the university believes in.”

“I hope that is what I am remembered for: always trying to do what was in the best interest of PLU, and to make this school and department and team the very best that it could be.”

Noren reflects back on the people and the relationships that he will remember from the past 14 years.

“There are people here who have made tremendous impressions on who I am today,” Noren said. “There will be lifelong friends from my time here at PLU. Players, coaches, parents, all things involved with PLU softball. They have been involved with my kids’ lives since the day they were born, and they will continue to be.

“The opportunities that have surfaced here have been extremely rewarding and have built up a tremendous tool chest of opportunities that I will be able to use down the road at Life Christian, and I use them in my daily life with my family. All of these relationships are priceless.”

Photo courtasy of Lisa Gilbert

Softball coach Rick Noren celebrates in the rain last season as the Lutes battled the weather and Willamette. After 14 years of coaching, Noren will not be coaching at PLU next year, but instead he will relocate to Life Christian School where he will be the Athletic Director.