Entering a new era in the Pac-12, Colorado State’s softball team will have to undergo the same process this offseason as their football team did: finding a new head coach. Longtime head coach Jen Fisher announced Wednesday night that she would be retiring as the head coach of the Rams this offseason, according to Justin McLeod of D1Softball. Fisher retires with 373 career wins, the most by a CSU head coach by far.
A Fort Collins native, Fisher was a star at local Rocky Mountains High, playing softball,
basketball, and tennis. While she did not play for her hometown squad collegiately, Fisher did earn her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a teaching license from CSU in 1997. Prior to taking over the Rams, Fisher spent over a decade at lower levels of collegiate softball, most notably turning Metro State from an infant program rebirth into a D-II College World Series participant in just three years.
Fisher’s time in Fort Collins started off with an abysmal 8-43 record in 2011, the worst season in CSU softball history. However, just a year later, Fisher was named Mountain West Coach of the Year for a team that went 29-22 and finished second in the conference. The Rams had a chance to win a conference title just two years later, but back-to-back home losses to San Jose State to close out the year kept them from glory.
That would have to wait until 2019, when Fisher’s magnum opus took place. The Rams went 39-12, securing victories over No. 16 Oklahoma State, Stanford, Utah, Nebraska and Syracuse. Most importantly, the Rams claimed their first conference title since 2003, and their first NCAA Tournament win since 1997. Fisher was again named Coach of the Year, having taken the Rams from the dark corners of the basement to the mountaintop in just under a decade.
Fisher would end her time with the Rams on a much lower note, with just two winning seasons since 2019. The Rams collapsed to a terrible 16-32 record in 2025, but rebounded to make the conference tournament one last time this year, falling to host Nevada in a run-rule loss that would turn out to be their skipper’s sendoff. It may not have ended in the most positive of ways, but make no mistake. Jen Fisher was a stable, rock-solid coach; a leader of young women and her community. She gave the Rams an identity, one that the program had seemingly forgotten in their last years under previous coach Mary Yori. While Fisher will be sorely missed, the Rams must now quickly turn their attention to finding a new head coach prior to the transfer portal window opening in just over two weeks.
Director of Player Development Shana Easley seems like the obvious choice. Easley was the head coach of nearby Northern Colorado from 2013-18, tallying a program record 110 wins over that span. She has also been working under Fisher since 2021, meaning she is far and away the most experienced replacement. If she wants this job, I think it will be hers. I would presume that fellow CSU grad and assistant coach Brett Bogner will also get a look for the top job, though fellow assistant Taylor Gilmore would also be a good fit. Gilmore played in Fort Collins from 2019-22 before transferring to Fresno State, where she would go on to win MW Pitcher of the Year in 2024. Perhaps even the inexperienced Garrett Fisher, the son of Jen Fisher, could receive some buzz from the CSU athletic department.
