In 2024, Texas State pitching coach Josh Trevino led his pitching staff to a 1.79 ERA— the ninth-best across Division I softball.
Senior pitcher Jessica Mullins posted a dominant 1.21 ERA and led the country in wins with 27 and innings pitched with 213 ⅓, and freshman pitcher Madison Azua accumulated an impressive 2.24 ERA. The rest of the pitching staff combined for a more than respectable 2.95 ERA.
For Texas State, Trevino originally served as a volunteer assistant coach as an undergraduate student from 2015 to 2020 before earning the role of pitching coach in 2023. The second-year coach said 2024 has been different from his first season on the coaching staff.
“I think I would spend too much time scouting [last season],” Trevino said. “I would make a plan and then stare at it too long and then go, ‘wait, I don’t think this is gonna work.’ Now I’m kind of just like, ‘this is the plan. We’re good enough to beat anyone if we execute, and we’re good enough to beat anyone even if we falter on the plan a little bit.'”
According to Mullins, Trevino’s impact on the team exceeds his regular coaching duties.
“I love Coach Josh,” Mullins said. “Since he’s come [to Texas State], he’s made a huge difference on our staff and our entire team. You just don’t see his type of energy on every single team, and everyone on the team values it.”
Trevino said he values personal relationships and believes it helps him and his pitching staff do the best job they can.
“We are one unit, we are one brain and you don’t reach that level without having conversations, earning trust, and knowing that you have their back,” Trevino said.
Trevino said the trust he shares with Bobcat pitchers is vital for both parties to be able to take constructive criticism.
“I know that after a game [my pitchers] can be honest with me, good or bad, and I can be honest with them, and they’re going to know that we want the same goal,” Trevino said. “There’s no ego attached. It’s not me jumping on their back [and] they can come to me with the hard conversation of why they aren’t getting any innings, and we can have a grown conversation about it and move on.”
Trevino said much of his day-to-day work involves working on mechanics and pitch selection, but most of his pitchers’ improvements come from their mindsets.
“There’s constant work [such as] tinkering the tools and making sure the rise ball is crisp or the drop ball is down, but that kind of stuff is constant,” Trevino said. “You can’t pitch with the whole world on top of your head. You have to go and compete.”
While Trevino said he has a stressful job with a lot on his plate, he puts his stress into perspective.
“I call [work-related stress] positive stress because I get to do what I love, and it’s sports,” Trevino said. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a softball game. I’m not performing life-saving open heart surgery. It’s fun stress.”
Texas State will compete in the Sun Belt tournament this week and almost certainly will follow it up with an appearance in the regional round of the NCAA D1 Softball championship. Leading up to the postseason, Trevino said he is proud of the work he and his pitching staff have done in 2024.
“I am just so proud for Texas State because there is a long line of great pitchers here,” Trevino said. “I think carrying that legacy down year after year really means something to me.”
