Ronda Varnesdeel is in her fifth season at the helm of the Softball program at Davenport. Over the past two seasons, she has led the team to Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference regular season championships in 2011 and 2012 and in 2011, Varnesdeel guided DU to the program's first ever NAIA National Tournament by winning the WHAC Tournament.
Her 46 victories in 2010 is the most ever in Varnesdeel’s coaching career and she recorded her 200th career victory on Feb. 22 against Concordia College (Minn.). In 2012, Ronda went over 300 wins in her career with the milestone win coming on April 1 against Cumberlands.
Before starting the Panther program in 2009, Ronda spent six years at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI in which she was at the helm of the program for five of those years. While at Aquinas, Varnesdeel established the program as a small college softball powerhouse. She led them to four Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference Championships in 2003 and 2005-2007. She was named WHAC Coach of the Year in each of those years as well as Region VIII Coach of the Year in 2005, a year in which she led her team to the NAIA National Tournament.
Ronda was also a stand-out athlete for the Saints in which she was a four-year starter for the basketball and softball programs and led the Saints to a national championship appearance in both sports. Varnesdeel also earned all-conference and all-region selections during her softball career.
In her four years of coaching at DU, Ronda has had one 2nd Team All-American, one All-American Honorable Mention Selection, one Conference Player of the Year, one Conference Pitcher of the Year, 13 All-Conference Selections, 6 All-Conference Honorable Mention Selections, 15 NAIA Scholar Athletes, and was honored as a NAIA Scholar Team with a cumulative team GPA of 3.3 in 2010 and 3.455 in 2012.
Varnesdeel received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Aquinas College and in 2013 will complete her
MBA with a concentration in Sport Managment from Columbia Southern University.
Ronda resides in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband Bernard Jr. and her son Bernard III and also serves as the Assistant Athletic Director for the Panthers.
