Former Arkansas Head Coach Jamie Pinkerton was announced as the new assistant coach for the ISU softball program on Wednesday.

Pinkerton will replace former Assistant Coach Crystal Turner.

“I thought that Coach Turner was a great teacher and very good assistant,” said Head Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “There are always changes to a program, wether it is coaches leaving, or players graduating or getting injured, those things happen.”

Although it’s sad to see Turner go, Gemeinhardt-Cesler said she is excited for the opportunity to work with Pinkerton.

Pinkerton began his coaching career as an assistant coach with Louisiana-Monroe in 1997, before he went on to become an assistant coach at Tulsa and Virginia. In 2001, he returned to Tulsa as the head coach. He became the only Tulsa coach to ever amass a winning record, going 140-105 in his four years there. Pinkerton left Tulsa for Arkansas in 2005, where he went 111-124 in five seasons and lead the Razorbacks to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.

“I think that he is going to bring a tremendous amount of experience; coaching at Arkansas, Tulsa and Virginia,” Gemeinhardt-Cesler said. “He has a lot of years with division I experience. I think he is also a very good teacher. I just feel lucky to have him on the staff.”

Although he has had success as a head coach, Pinkerton said he decided to go back to being an assistant for family reasons. Pinkerton grew up in Broken Arrow, Okla. His wife, Dori Pinkerton, is from Southern Minnesota.

“For 16 years, we have been within an hour and a half or two hours of my family, and I thought it was time for our kids to enjoy her parents,” Pinkerton said.

He also cited the chance to work with Gemeinhardt-Cesler as a major reason for making the move back to being an assistant. Pinkerton and Gemeinhardt-Cesler have known each other for quite some time, being introduced by Gemeinhardt-Cesler’s former college coach, Jay Miller.

From there, they reunited while recruiting for their respective schools, but their friendship became deeper within the last few years.

“Over the years we became friends, and I think the friendship really grew during her time off last year with the twins [Jakoby and Korbin],” Pinkerton said. “I had a family issue a couple years ago and she would call and check on me. It was similar to what Stacy went through with her babies. I checked on her weekly and things kind of grew from there. I mean, we were already great friends, but I think the friendship, mutual admiration, and respect grew from getting to know each other during hard times.”

The Cyclones hope that friendship can translate into a successful 2010 softball season. The Cyclones have made it their goal for the past couple seasons to reach the NCAA Tournament.

There’s hope that Pinkerton’s recent experience with reaching the tournament can help put them over the top.

“What I really wanted for last year, was for this class that is going to be seniors, to qualify [for the NCAA Tournament] their junior year and then come back for their senior year. It didn’t happen, and that’s the way that it works, but I think that having someone on staff that has been there recently and knows what it takes to get there will really help us take that next step.”

Although Pinkerton has only been a member of the Iowa State staff for a short time, he said he thinks the program is ready for that next step.

“I don’t think this program is very far from being there,” he said. “All you have to do is win about five or six games in a power conference like the Big 12… We just have to have a strong showing early, and then take care of business in the Big 12.”