After a successful eight-year run at WPI, Goldstein hopes to do the same with the URI softball team. PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney Goldstein
A new era has officially begun for the University of Rhode Island Softball team.
This past July, Whitney Goldstein was hired to become the program’s next head softball coach.
Goldstein was welcomed to Kingston after a strong run at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). During her eight seasons as the team’s head coach, she won four regular season titles, two conference championships, made three NCAA Regional appearances and two Super Regionals. She also achieved a No. 1 ranking in New England and No. 11 ranking in the nation in 2016 and won the ECAC Regional Coach of the Year as well as two conference Coach Of the Year awards.
Prior to her time at WPI, she also coached at Amherst College and was the Director of Softball Operations at her alma mater, UMass Amherst. She had a successful playing career with the Minutewomen, earning All-American honors her freshman season, going on to win four Atlantic 10 titles and making the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons with the team.
For Goldstein, the opportunity to lead the URI softball team has been something that she has always dreamed of.
“When I started coaching, I always wanted to end up at a Division I program,” Goldstein said. “I saw an opportunity at a Division I program in Rhode Island to stay close to home and bring in a winning culture, and I am really excited to do that.”
Wherever Goldstein has gone, success has followed. She currently holds a coaching record of 230-90 (.718) over her career and hopes to inject that winning culture in Kingston this spring and for years to come.
But for now, she is focused on developing the roster she has inherited.
“I think it is important to bring your own players in, which I have done, but I feel it is almost more important to take care of the players you have,” Goldstein said. “Everyone on the team is important and should be made to feel that way.”
In addition to her emphasis on the players, Goldstein believes in hard work and a desire to get better each day and has instilled this philosophy in her Rhody players this fall.
“I have definitely pushed them, but they have done an excellent job so far,” Goldstein said. “Our program isn’t going to change in one day, but I love how hard they have worked.”
The addition of Goldstein is a welcoming sign for one of her players. Senior Ari Castillo feels the new culture Goldstein has brought can bring a lot of success to the program.
“She knows what it takes to win, and we all trust her when she tells us to do things because we know it will pay off,” Castillo said. “I think she’s going to do great things for URI softball.”
After practicing and playing together during fall-ball play in September and October, Goldstein and the Rams will officially take the field for the 2022 regular season this spring.
“This offseason has been the best one I’ve had here,” Castillo said. “I am excited to see what we can do this year.”
In her first season, Goldstein believes success will be less about wins and losses and more about how much her players improve everyday.
“It is all about the process,” Goldstein said. “I don’t care about wins and losses as long as we grow as a team each and every day.”