The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Softball
- Title:
- Director of Player Development
Texas head softball coach Mike White announced on Sept. 9, 2021, the hiring of Dan Gratz as the Director of Player Development.
As the head coach at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) in Mason, Iowa, from 2017-21, Gratz coached six NJCAA All-Americans and had 22 players earn all-region accolades while leading his squad to a national ranking during each year of his head coaching career. His charges proved equally adept in the classroom, earning 14 Academic All-American and 39 Academic All-Region honors.
While at NIACC, Gratz was in charge of overseeing all aspects of the Trojans’ program including budget management, travel coordination, recruiting and student-athlete development, compliance, camps and coaching recruitment and mentorship.
Prior to his time at NIACC, Gratz served as the Director of Softball Operations at the University of Iowa (2016-17). During his stint in Iowa City, he oversaw office operations and all travel for the coaching staff and student-athletes, served as the liaison for the team with the director of compliance, helped coordinate recruiting activities, assisted in the coordination and execution of Iowa’s softball camps and clinics, maintained game/practice statistical records and oversaw daily video editing, coordinated on development of an alumni database and served on a special event committee for marketing events.
Gratz’s first head softball coaching job was at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). Over three seasons from 2013-16, he led the 5A program to a 92-32 overall record and three straight top 12 final 5A state rankings. During his final campaign in 2016, Gratz was named the 5A Coach of the Year after leading Cedar Rapids Kennedy to a Mississippi Valley Conference title and a No. 1 ranking in the state.
Previous stops on his coaching resume included stints as an assistant coach at John Wood Community College (Quincy, Ill. – 2015-16), Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa – 2010-12) and Mount Vernon High School (Mount Vernon, Iowa – 2010-11).
Gratz graduated from Cornell College in 2012 with bachelor’s degrees in both psychology and kinesiology. He went on to complete his master’s in leadership business management (organizational leadership) from Hannibal-LaGrange University (Hannibal, Mo.) in 2016. He’s also spent time during his career serving on the NFCA/NJCAA Division II All-American Committee, the NJCAA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (Region XI Ambassador) and as a NIACC Professional Salaried Staff (PSS) Committee Chair.
