Chris Malveaux (mal-VO) enters his second season as co-head coach of Auburn softball alongside his wife, Kate. The pair took over the helm of the program on June 5, 2024. Chris primarily runs Auburn’s offense.
In the first year of the Malveaux era, Auburn softball earned 35 victories and earned its 11th consecutive NCAA Regional selection. Chris and Kate Malveaux has coached one First Team All-SEC honoree and three National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region selections in their short time on the Plains.
The Tigers opened the Malveaux era with a 20-1 start, their best since 2022. The span saw Auburn post a 6-0 record at the elite Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational becoming the first team to do so since Florida State in 2019. Auburn finished the season with a 35-24 record, which included winning four of its final three SEC series. The Tigers earned their first series win in Kentucky since 2016 while also upsetting No. 18 Georgia and No. 13 South Carolina for series victories.
With its appearance at the 2025 Tallahassee Regional, Auburn extended its streak of consecutive NCAA postseason appearances to 11. The Tigers delivered (5) Florida State an 8-3 loss on Sunday to force the “if necessary” contest but was one win shy of advancing to Super Regionals in the first year of the Malveaux era.
Playing the fifth toughest schedule in the country, Auburn earned 18 victories against teams in the top 50 of the RPI.
The 2025 season was highlighted by a breakout offensive season from freshman AnnaLea Adams. Adams became the first Auburn freshman to ever win All-SEC First Team honors. The first baseman/designated player was also top-25 finalist for NFCA National Freshman of the Year. She joined Nelia Peralta and SJ Geurin as three Tigers selected to 2025 NFCA All-Gulf Region teams. Auburn’s three selections in 2025 were the most since 2017.
Offensively, Auburn saw gains in essentially every statistical category in the first year of the Malveaux era, which included a 60-point jump in slugging percentage. Auburn slugged 68 home runs in 2025. It was the most hit by the team since 2022 and finished tied for the fifth most hit in a single season at Auburn. Five different Tigers hit at least 10 home runs in 2025, which was the most in a season since 2015. Eight different Tigers either matched or surpassed their career high for home runs in a season in Malveaux’s first year. After only scoring 10 or more runs in two games in 2024, Auburn hit double-digit scoring nine times in year one of the Malveaux era. Auburn finished eighth in the SEC and 34th in the country in total home runs in its first season under Malveaux.
Bursting onto the scene, Adams finished in the top five in six different freshman offensive records. She finished 15th in the SEC in batting average and became just the fourth freshman in program history to slugged 10 or more home runs in a season. She wrapped her freshman campaign with Second Team Freshman All-America honors from D1 Softball.
Peralta thrived in her final season on the Plains under Malveaux’s tutelage, setting career highs in batting average, runs scored and hits in a season. She also slugged double-digit home runs for the first time since her 2021 freshman season. Peralta became just the sixth Tiger in program history to knock 190+ hits, score 120+ runs and record 120+ RBI in an Auburn uniform. She ended her Auburn career ranked in the top 10 in eight Auburn career categories, including walks, triples, RBI, runs scored and on-base percentage.
On May 5, 2025, Malveaux was named to the U.S. Women’s National Team Coaching Pool for the 2025-2028 quad. As part of the pool, Malveaux will help guide the team at WNT Camps and international events.
Both Chris and Kate Malveaux came to Auburn after serving as assistant coaches at the University of Tennessee where they helped the Lady Volunteer program to back-to-back Southeastern Conference regular season titles in 2023 and 2024 and a Women's College World Series appearance in 2023.
Additionally, the two helped Tennessee to 136 wins over the last three seasons, which was tied for the 10th most wins nationally and second most by an SEC team. This past season, Tennessee not only won the SEC regular season title, but posted a 44-12 overall record and made an NCAA Super Regional appearance.
Recognized as one of the top offensive minds in collegiate softball, Chris Malveaux guided six Lady Vols to All-SEC accolades in 2024, including a third straight All-SEC First Team selection for McKenna Gibson. He helped All-American KiKi Milloy rewrite Tennessee's record book to become the program leader in home runs, runs scored and total bases. Three of Tennessee's top five single-season home run totals came under Malveaux.
Returning one of the most powerful lineups in the SEC, Tennessee led the league and ranked sixth nationally with 1.50 home runs per game average in 2024 and closed the season with 84 total, the third most in a single season on Rocky Top.
Returning for a fifth year, KiKi Milloy earned Second Team All-America honors from D1 Softball. Tennessee's all-time leader in home runs (69), runs scored (266) and total bases (534), Milloy started in 53 games in her final season at Tennessee. A mainstay at the top of the lineup, she led the Lady Vols with a .347 batting average and 64 runs scored.
Milloy tied for the team lead in hits (59) and home runs (13), while leading the squad with 12 doubles and two triples. Milloy closed out the year with 24 stolen bases as she finished with 142 for her career – the second-most in Tennessee softball history.
The Lady Vols' offense was potent in 2023 as they averaged 6.87 runs per game – ranking best in the SEC and third nationally. Tennessee pushed across 419 runs during the season - marking the first time UT broke 400 since scoring 426 in 2016. The Lady Vols scored 10+ runs 16 times in 2023 and pushed across five or more runs on 40 occasions.
Senior Milloy set a single-season school record for home runs with 25 – a mark that also led the nation. Sophomore Gibson had a breakout season as she set career bests in average (.362), OPS (1.232), runs (36), hits (59), doubles (11), home runs (15), RBIs (60), slugging (.718), walks (39) and on-base percentage (.514). She also recorded multiple RBIs in 14 games and ended the season on a 23-game reached base streak.
Under Malveaux's leadership, Milloy earned NFCA First Team All-America honors, while Gibson took home second team accolades.
In its first year under his guidance, Tennessee boasted the SEC's third-best scoring offense with 140 runs in conference games. The Lady Vols also ranked second in the league in doubles (39), slugging percentage (.540), on-base percentage (.398), and stolen bases (22) in SEC action while finishing third in home runs (38).
The 2023 team won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles – sweeping both crowns in the same season for the first time in program history. Tennessee secured its first 50-win season and reached the national semifinals at the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2013. The trip to the WCWS was its first since 2015 and its eighth all-time.
Tennessee posted remarkable home run numbers in its first season with Malveaux on staff, totaling 91 long balls for the second-highest single-season total in program history. The Lady Vols averaged 1.54 homers per game, ranking third in the SEC and 12th in the country.
In its preseason list of top 10 assistant coaching hires during the 2021 off-season, Extra Inning Softball tabbed Malveaux's hiring as the No. 1 assistant coach addition in the country.
Malveaux, a Houston, Texas, native spent the 2019-21 seasons at Missouri with one year as an assistant coach and two years as an associate head coach. During his three seasons in Columbia, the Missouri offense improved each year – hitting .284 in 2019, .290 in the COVID shortened 2020 season and jumping up to .320 in 2021.
The Tigers' .320 batting average ranked second in the Southeastern Conference in 2021. The Mizzou squad finished the season with 91 home runs, 382 runs scored and 184 extra-base hits.
In 2019, Mizzou's Brooke Wilmes was named to the All-SEC First Team, as well as NFCA Second Team All-Southeast Region, in her first year under Malveaux. Freshman Jazmyn Rollin was a Top 25 finalist for the NFCA/Schutt Sports Freshman of the Year that same season.
Prior to joining Missouri, Malveaux was the video coordinator at Kansas in 2018 and served as the associate head coach at Louisiana from 2016-17 – it was his second stay with the Ragin' Cajuns as he was an assistant coach with ULL from 2009-11.
The 2010 Louisiana staff was selected as the NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year after compiling a 45-18 record, making an NCAA Super Regional appearance and earning a No. 16 national ranking. In his five combined seasons at Louisiana, Malveaux was a member of five Sun Belt Conference and Tournament Championships, five NCAA Regionals and two NCAA Super Regional bids.
A 2001 graduate of Texas A&M, Malveaux served as an assistant coach at Bradley from 2012-15 and was the head coach at McNeese State from 2005-08 after being promoted from assistant coach, a title he held at McNeese from 2002-04.
| QUICK FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Houston, Texas |
| College | Texas A&M (2001) |
| Family |
wife, Kate
|
| HEAD COACHING RECORD | |
|---|---|
| Head Coaching Career | 5 seasons |
| Career Record | 143-157 |
| Record at Auburn | 35-24 |
| NCAA Regionals | 2 |
| YEAR-BY-YEAR RESULTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| YEAR | SCHOOL | RECORD |
| 2005 | McNeese | 34-35 |
| 2006 | McNeese | 21-30 |
| 2007 | McNeese | 30-32 |
| 2008 | McNeese | 23-36 |
| 2025 | Auburn | 35-24 |
| 2026 | Auburn | 0-0 |
| Coaching History | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2025- | Auburn - Co-Head Coach | 35-24 |
| 2022-2024 | Tennessee - Assistant Coach | |
| 2020-2021 | Missouri - Associate Head Coach | |
| 2019 | Missouri - Assistant Coach | |
| 2018 | Kansas - Video Coordinator | |
| 2016-2017 | Louisiana - Associate Head Coach | |
| 2012-2015 | Bradley - Assistant Coach | |
| 2009-2011 | Louisiana - Assistant Coach | |
| 2005-2008 | McNeese State - Head Coach | 108-133 |
| 2002-2004 | McNeese State - Assistant Coach | |