Tennessee softball will not retain assistant coaches Craig Snider and Stephanie Sanders on coach Karen Weekly’s staff, a source who requested anonymity because no official announcement had been made said June 8, describing the decision as mutual.
Snider had served as Tennessee’s hitting coach after two seasons as head coach at Texas Tech; his two years there produced a 60-43 record and a 13-29 mark in Big 12 play. His résumé also includes three seasons as a hitting coach at Texas A&M and eight years on the Florida State staff, including the 2018 national championship team. Sanders worked with defense and catchers for the Lady Vols; she was not an active college coach when hired and had previously coached at Penn State, Miami (Ohio) and Villanova after playing at Michigan State. The two were engaged when hired to Knoxville and married shortly thereafter.
Financially, the staff changes remove two salaried assistants from Weekly’s payroll: Snider’s base pay was $170,000; Sanders’s base salary was $70,000. Both were hired after the 2024 season to fill vacancies left by Chris and Kate Malveaux, who departed to become co-head coaches at Auburn.
The move comes after a 2026 season that again put Tennessee among the nation’s elite by record but exposed limitations that have followed the program deep into the postseason. The Lady Vols finished 49-12 overall and 16-8 in SEC play — a mark tied for fourth in the league — and made a second straight run to the Women’s College World Series semifinals.
Yet the offensive numbers underpin the staff change. Tennessee ranked No. 12 in the SEC in team batting average at.281, No. 9 in home runs with 76, No. 10 in slugging percentage (.496) and runs scored, and No. 11 in on-base percentage (.385). The team also accumulated the seventh-most strikeouts in the conference with 249. Those figures have been described inside the program as the offense’s shortfall in consecutive World Series runs.
The departures remove both the designated hitting coach and the staff member responsible for catchers and defensive work — responsibilities directly tied to the offensive and run-prevention metrics the Lady Vols underperformed in. Snider’s track record as a hitting specialist, including time at Texas A&M and Florida State, and Sanders’s background as Penn State’s 2021-22 recruiting coordinator and catcher/outfield coach were part of Weekly’s plan when she rebuilt the staff after the Malveauxs left.
The source framed the decision as mutual and made clear no formal release had been posted; Tennessee has not announced replacements. That gap matters: the program must address two openings that touch both lineup production and the defensive core ahead of offseason recruiting and player development windows.
What happens next remains the central question. Karen Weekly and Tennessee’s athletic department have yet to name successors or outline a search process, leaving the program’s direction in hitting and catcher development unresolved as other SEC staffs prepare for recruiting and fall work. The coming days should show whether Tennessee pursues experienced, high-profile assistants — particularly a hitting coach with major-conference track record — or looks internally to fill the roles before the next season.
