Carol Bruggeman       

Carol Bruggeman attended Charter Oak High School and lived in Charter Oak, Iowa. As a player at Iowa, she earned 2nd Team All-Big Ten honors and was a All-Mideast Region selection, and an Academic All-American as an infielder. She was a 4-time letter winner from 1983-1987, and received Iowa’s Athletic Academic Medal of Honor. She stayed on as a graduate assistant with new coach Gayle Blevins in 1987.

After Iowa, she was an assistant coach at Michigan while finishing her masters degree at Iowa. In 1994, she started the Purdue softball program from scratch. From 2006 to 2014, she helped lead Louisville to nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances and coached the USA Athletes International team in the Czech Republic and Australia.

She retired from coaching in 2014 with more than 700 victories. She also began working as a softball color commentator for the Big Ten Network and ESPN, and joined the executive leadership of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). In 1997, she was inducted into the Iowa Softball Association Hall of Fame.

She was the 2020 recipient of the Dr. Michael Teague All-Star Award for her significant contributions to the program and achievements in the sport and recreation industry. In December 2022, she was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame.