Hunter Veach | Assistant Coach

Hunter Veach joins the Texas Tech softball program after spending the 2024 season with Louisiana Lafayette as the primary defensive coach.

While with the Ragin' Cajuns, his defense turned an NCAA-leading 46 double plays last season after the team had turned just 42 combined in the previous three years. The team also improved from a .968 fielding percentage in conference play in 2023 to a .983 fielding percentage in conference play under his tutelage in 2024.

Veach, came to Louisiana after spending the 2023 season as Texas A&M’s director of player development and the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at UAB working alongside defensive specialist Joe Guthrie.

While at UAB, Veach ran the defense and helped propel the Blazers to their highest winning percentage (.620) since 2015 and second-best conference winning percentage in program history (.750). In 2022, the Blazers proved to be one of the best defensive teams in the country, turning the fifth-most double plays per game (0.55) in Division I while ranking second in Conference USA with 28 double plays.

Veach also assisted in the development of UAB's Sierra Frazier, who garnered her second-straight all-conference first team nod and an NFCA All-Mideast Region First Team selection in 2022.

The softball coaching ledger for Veach dates back to 2013, when he began his involvement with the sport at Auburn University at Montgomery. Over the three-year stint at AUM, he assisted in the team's efforts in winning two NAIA National Championships (2014 and 2015) over three straight NAIA World Series appearances. Veach helped coach four NAIA All-Americans and tutored Cassie Jones who was named the 2015 NAIA Player of the Year.

Veach moved on to the Division I ranks at Auburn University where he was a volunteer assistant in 2016 when the Tigers collected 58 wins and finished as the runner-up at the Women's College World Series. He was promoted to assistant coach for the 2017 campaign, working with the program's pitching staff and helping the team to an NCAA Regional title.

Prior to returning to the collegiate game in October 2020 at UAB, Veach worked in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league and overseas with the Chinese national team.

He served as an assistant coach for the NPF’s Cleveland Comets in 2017 and then as head coach of the Beijing Shougang Eagles in the league from 2018-20, managing a 60-player roster while overseeing the development of all athletes.

He also served as the head coach for the Chinese women's national team until 2021, which was the largest softball operation in China. He traveled abroad to various countries with Team China, competing in tournaments in Australia, Indonesia and China while winning bronze, silver, and gold medals during international competition.

In the summer of 2023 Veach returned to professional softball, working alongside Louisiana Softball head coach Gerry Glasco on the coaching staff of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) Smash It Sports Vipers.

A native of Selma, Alabama, Veach graduated from Auburn in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in sports coach and sports communication.

His sister, Kendall, was a decorated college athlete at Auburn. Veach drafted her in the 2019 NPF draft and she played professional softball under his leadership for the Beijing Shougang Eagles.