Chris Malveaux (mal-VO) was announced as Auburn softball's co-head coach alongside his wife Kate on June 5, 2024.
Both 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 is 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, and 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 McKenna 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).
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
|
| COACHING RECORD | |
|---|---|
| Head Coaching Career | 4 seasons |
| Career Record | 108-133 |
| Record at Auburn | 0-0 |
| Collegiate Postseasons | 1 |
| Coaching History | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2025- | Auburn - Co-Head Coach | 0-0 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | 0-0 |