Bio

James Fuqua was hired as the program's pitching coach in the 2019-20 academic year and is entering his sixth season with the team in 2025.

Fuqua has led some of the best pitching staffs in the country in his time at Texas Lutheran. He has assisted Texas Lutheran to a trip to the Division-III National Championship in 2021 and the Division-III Women's College World Series in 2021 and 2022 and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Fuqua's TLU pitching staff owns a 1.48 ERA and 81 shutouts since his hiring, striking out 997 hitters in 1,255 innings. His hurlers have earned four SCAC Pitcher of the Year awards (all by Ashlyn Strother) and 23 SCAC Pitcher of the Week nods.

As a member of the NFCA Region X Coaching Staff of the Year, Fuqua mentored a coaching staff that finished in the top 25 nationally in shutouts (13), earned run average (1.89), and WHIP (1.07) in 2024.

Fuqua’s staff anchored a 40-8 season by leading the NCAA in shutouts (23) and finishing third in ERA (1.18) in 2023. The trio of Ashlyn Strother, Sydney Ouellette, and Amanda White held ERA marks below 1.60 and combined for 237 of the staff's 241 strikeouts. The staff threw three no-hitters and one perfect game, surrendering just 50 earned runs and a .178 batting average.

Throughout TLU's dominant 45-6 campaign in 2022, Fuqua mentored a pitching staff that finished third in NCAA Division-III in ERA (1.33) and second in shutouts (22) and WHIP (0.87). Two Bulldog pitchers ranked in the top 40 nationally through the season in ERA: sophomores Ashlyn Strother and Sydney Ouellette.

Strother collected NFCA First Team All-America honors for her NCAA record 25-0 campaign, including 209 strikeouts and 0.77 ERA. Strother's 25-0 record set the program record for wins in a season and matched Chassety Raines's 2019 record for winning percentage (1.000) and Taylor Grissom's 2015 ERA record. The 25 wins are the most in a single-season in NCAA history without a loss. Ouellette was named NFCA All-West Region, All-SCAC, and to the Seguin, Texas Regional and Super Regional Teams - earning Seguin Super Regional Most Outstanding Pitcher honors - after an impressive 2022 season that saw her finish 12-4 with three saves, including 63 strikeouts and 1.30 ERA.

In 2021, the TLU pitching staff recorded 11 shutouts, while freshman Sydney Ouellette was named Most Outstanding Pitcher of the Seguin, Texas Regional following a 2-0 record (9.1 innings pitched), four strikeouts and zero runs allowed in the Regional. Ouellette, fellow freshman Ashyln Strother, and sophomore Chassety Raines were all All-SCAC honorees. Strother (13-2, 1.43 ERA) was named a Third Team All-American and SCAC Pitcher of the Year while Ouellette (16-3, 2.07 ERA) received Second Team All-Region recognition. The Bulldog pitchers had a team ERA of 2.08 and held opponents to a .221 batting average. TLU pitcher struck out 172 and walked only 48 - finishing tenth in the country in WHIP (1.01). Opponents had an on-base percentage of .271 (compared to the TLU offense OBP of .462).

Fuqua was a member of a Bulldogs coaching staff that was named NFCA West Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021, 2022, and 2024.

Fuqua has extensive experience as a coach and as a pitching coach from his work with Bombers Fastpitch, a Junior Olympic Fastpitch Softball Program. The Bombers have headquarters in New Braunfels, Texas.

Fuqua is a native of Cuero, Texas.