PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Shannon Padula is preparing for her second season as the head softball coach at NCAA Division III Neumann University.
She came to Aston after five seasons as the head coach at the University of the Sciences. Prior to coaching, Padula was a star player, spending four years as one of the greatest pitchers in the history of West Chester University.
Her journey to the mound began early, thanks to an older sibling.
“My sister was a pitcher, so I had to go to her pitching lessons because I couldn't stay home,” Padula said. “I was kind of mimicking her when I was little … but being left-handed, her pitching coach was like, ‘When can we get Shannon?’ “
That experience planted a seed for when she started high school, and was told by her parents to “either play a sport or get a job.”
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“I was like, well, let's play a sport,” she said.
Basketball was also an early love, but softball won out.
“I had a really good high school career, and it just kind of took off,” she said, especially with the advantage of being a left-hander.
That skill on the mound opened up an opportunity at West Chester.
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“West Chester just fit the mold where I can play,” she said. “I wanted to play right away … I didn't want to be that kid that just threw the bullpen because they're facing lefties later that week. So I wanted to be able to impact the team right away.”
Her impact over four years included 12 school records and the first-ever 20-win season for a pitcher in school history.
After serving as an assistant at West Chester, Division I Rider and Division III Farleigh Dickinson-Florham, she led the University of the Sciences to improved records in each of her five seasons as head coach before Saint Joseph’s University took over the school in June, and her entire program was cut.
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Then came a new opportunity at Neumann University..
“When I went on my interview … I asked them about their endowment. A question I would never ask, right? Ever,” she admitted. “I looked at a lot more things, in a sense to take a job that was like, ‘Are you going to be open in five years? Because I don't want to do this ever again.’”
Still, one moment from the end of her time at Sciences crystalized why she coaches: Her capability to build community through the team she leads.
“One of my players said this to me,” Padula said. “ ‘Thank you for giving me my best friends.’ And I cried.”
Padula shared much more about her playing days, how she entered coaching and her reflections on the road that led her to Neumann.
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