Eric Iverson enters his 26th season as the Head Coach of the NEO softball program. The Lady Norse Head Coach has compiled an overall record of 1,083 wins verses 253 loses. He reached his milestone 1,000 victory in 2018 at Labette Community College, becoming the first Coach in Oklahoma Junior College History to reach 1,000 career wins.. His 1,083 wins rank him 3rd nationally among active NJCAA Division-1 coaches and 6th on the all-time list. When looking deeper at the top Division-1 winningest active coaches, Iverson ranks #1 in winning percentage with .811%.
Iverson’s teams have been ranked in the top 20 of the NCAA National poll 23 of his 25 seasons during his tenure. More impressively, 17 of Iverson’s teams have been ranked in the top 10.
The Lady Norse softball program has played in 18 Region II Championship games under Iverson. NEO has captured the coveted Region II Championship 9 times (’00, ’07, ’08, ’11, ’12,'13, '15, ’16, and ‘17) and continued on to the NJCAA Division-1 Softball National Tournament. The teams finished strong by placing 3rd in 2000, 4th in 2007, 5th in 2012 and 2016, and 7th in 2013 and 2017. The 2015 Lady Norse finished as National Runner-Up with a 50-16 record.
Since Iverson took over the NEO program in 1996, Lady Norse players have been honored with 97 selections to the NJCAA Region II First Team. Iverson has coached 32 NJCAA All-Americans; including five first team All Americans (Candace Handley 2007, Megan Sullivan 2012, Raven Campos 2014, and Rylee Bayless 2015 and 2016). In 2007, NEO tied a NJCAA National Record with 5 NJCAA All Americans. The 2015 NEO Softball Team had three NJCAA All-Americans and 3 NJCAA Academic-All Americans, the 2016 Team produced 1 NJCAA All American and an impressive total of 6 NJCAA Academic All Americans, 2017 had 4 NJCAA Academic All-America Team selections, the 2018 team landed a Second Team NJCAA All-American in Karissa Marshall and 8 Academic All-Americans, while the 2019 team produced 1 Second Team All-American in Mary Collins and 4 Academic All-Americans. 2015 and 2016 also included two time NJCAA Softball player of the year Rylee Bayless. 2016 also produced a first for NEO as Bayless was selected the recipient of the Betty Jo Graber Award given to the NJCAA Female Student-Athlete of the year.
In April 2015 after the renovation of the Softball Complex, it was named Iverson Field at Alumni Stadium, in honor of Coach Iverson and his accomplishments with NEO Softball.
Coach Iverson has served as both President and Vice President of the NJCAA National Softball Coaches Association. In December of 2009, Iverson became the 15th member inducted into the NJCAA Softball Hall of Fame.
In the summer of 2011 Iverson was selected to serve as assistant coach for the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch League(NPF). Promoted to the Head Coaching position in the summer of 2012 for Akron, Iverson has had the privilege to coach and coach against the best players in the game. Coaching against Olympic players from the United States and Canada has exposed Iverson to the greatest talent the game has to offer.
Prior to taking over the Lady Norse softball program, Iverson served for 4 years as assistant coach for the Golden Norsemen Baseball program. His four seasons with NEO Baseball was highlighted with a 3rd place finish at the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, CO.
Eric Iverson and his wife Keni of 31 years reside in Grove, OK. The couple has two daughters, Lauren (Married to Jeremy Strack), Emilee (Married to Zach Gardner), and Grandsons Cooper Strack and Colton Strack.
