Jamie Wiggins (Southern) has had one incredible career! From her playing days where she was elite at every level she played to her coaching career at some of the nation's top schools. Jamie Wiggins pours her heart and soul into softball while she teaches the game to be played the right way. This mother of three is balancing her professional career with being a mom, not just to her three but to all the players she encounters. As you will hear in this episode, Jamie loves big and wants nothing but the best from each athlete she encounters. Jamie joins the Foul Pole to Foul Pole Podcast to talk about her career and life’s challenges as she navigates her new role as well as balancing her personal life.

Jamie Southern Wiggins, from Clovis High School in Clovis, Calif., donned a Bulldog uniform from 2002-05 where she was a three-time first-team All-American, a second-team All-American, and a two-time Academic All-American. She was a four-time first-team All-Region and All-WAC selection while being named the WAC Pitcher of the Year four times and the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2002. A Honda Award and USA Softball Player of the Year Finalist (four times), Southern was also the Fresno State Female Athlete of the Year twice. She was named the WAC Female Athlete of the Year in 2005 and was one of two Bulldogs, along with fellow softball player Amanda Scott, to earn the NCAA Top VIII Award. Southern was named to the NCAA All-Region Tournament Team in 2002 and 2003. She also led the country in ERA in both 2002 and 2004. She ended her career ranking in the top 10 in nine NCAA categories and ranks in the top 10 in 18 Fresno State hitting and pitching categories. Southern is the all-time Bulldog leader in appearances, games started, wins, complete games, innings pitched, strikeouts, shutouts, saves, and no-hitters. At the conclusion of her collegiate career, Southern was the No. 1 pick in the National Pro Fastpitch League's senior draft in 2005.

She won two professional championships in the league, in 2005 and 2008. She also won gold with Team USA in the World Championships in 2006. In the early 2000s, few softball players were better than Jamie Southern. A pitcher for the perennial-contending Fresno State Bulldogs, Southern was a four-time All-American including three first-team honors. She won the WAC Pitcher of the Year award in all four years of her career and was later named to the ESPN All-Decade Softball Team for the 2000s. Beginning during her career at Fresno State and continuing after it, Southern was part of Team USA. She helped lead the team to a gold medal at the 2006 World Championships and was a #1-overall draft selection to the professional softball league at that time. She was inducted into the Fresno State Hall of Fame in 2012. To make the understatement of the year, you could say she was “pretty good”.

Some years after her playing career ended, Southern jumped into the collegiate coaching fray. After spending a stint as a volunteer assistant at Abilene Christian, Southern joined the Idaho State. The Oregon State softball program has added Jamie Southern Wiggins to the coaching staff as an assistant coach, head coach Laura Berg announced last year. "I'm excited to have Jamie as part of our coaching staff," said Berg. "The knowledge and experience she brings to our staff are extraordinary and I can't wait to see what she does with our pitchers."

Wiggins comes to Corvallis after serving as an assistant coach for Idaho State, where she worked with the pitching staff for the 2022 season. The Bengals saw their ERA drop by 3.15 (7.2 to 4.35), threw 13 more complete games than in 2021, tripled the number of strikeouts thrown, and reduced their opponents' batting average. She guided Haley Rainey - who tossed 14 complete games, three shutouts, struck out 163, and held batters to a .256 average – to being tabbed the Big Sky's Freshman of the Year.