Kary Kankey was named assistant for special projects at Norfolk State University in May 2010. Prior to that, Kankey spent five years as the head softball coach at NSU.
Kankey continued to build on her coaching success in her third year leading the Spartans. In 2008, NSU made it to the championship game of the MEAC Tournament for the first time since 2000. The Spartans won three straight games in one day to advance to the final round from the loser’s bracket. NSU went 4-2 in the tournament, falling 7-6 to Delaware State in the first round and then 3-0 to DSU in the championship game.
In 2007, NSU tallied the most wins since moving to Division I in 1997-98 (26) and finished with a winning MEAC record (13-1) for the first time since joining the conference.
Under Kankey’s lead, the 2007 squad also completed the program’s first-ever conference sweep of Bethune-Cookman and ended a 15-game losing streak to Florida A&M (dating back to April 2002) in a live, nationally televised game on ESPNU.
In her first year as coach, Kankey led NSU to a 10-win improvement over 2005. Under her guidance, the Spartans earned the school’s first .500 MEAC record since joining the conference in 1998. After failing to make the MEAC Tournament in 2005, the Spartans earned the fifth seed last year en route to a 21-33 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the conference.
Kankey came to NSU after a successful five-year tenure as the head softball coach at Division III Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio.
Kankey’s teams at Defiance distinguished themselves on the field and in the classroom. Her record as Defiance was 95-115-2, but after beginning with a modest 12-29 record her first year, she capped her stint there with back-to-back Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament championships and NCAA regional tournament berths.
In 2005, Kankey’s squad went 28-17, tying or breaking 12 school records. The 28 wins matched the school record. After finishing as HCAC runner-up in the regular season, the Yellow Jackets captured a second straight conference tournament championship and won the school’s first-ever NCAA regional game. Kankey was named the HCAC Coach of the Year in 2005, one year after sharing the honor.
During her stint at Defiance, Kankey had 13 players earn all-conference recognition.
Her teams also took care of business off the field. In each of her last four years, the softball team GPA exceeded 3.0. She had a total of 19 players earn National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Academic All-American status.
While at Defiance, Kankey also served as an assistant women’s volleyball coach.
Prior to coaching at Defiance, Kankey spent two seasons as a graduate assistant women’s basketball and softball coach at Division III Bluffton University in Ohio. She helped Bluffton to the 1999 HCAC softball tournament championship.
Kankey, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., earned her bachelor’s degree in sports management from the University of Dayton in 1998. She was a four-year letterwinner for the Flyers softball team, serving as the starting catcher as a freshman and sophomore and the starting shortstop her junior and senior seasons. She earned first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors as a senior in 1998, the same year she won Dayton’s Most Improved and Offensive Player of the Year awards.
She was also named to the GTE District IV Academic All-America team, as well as to the Atlantic-10 All-Academic Team in her final season of eligibility.
Kankey earned her master’s degree in sports administration from Bowling Green State University in 2000. She and her husband, Jason, reside in Virginia Beach and have one son, Ryan.
