Greenville and Furman aligned with the next phase of her coaching journey.
Mary Beth Dennison and the Fit at Furman
Furman University is set in Greenville, South Carolina and is widely known for its strong academics along with competitive athletics in the well respected Southern Conference. According to US News & World Report, Furman is ranked as the eighth best Liberal Arts College in the South, 45th nationally, and 11th in Most Innovative Schools.
While the foundation of the university has remained strong, the softball program has gone through a difficult stretch on the field.
The Paladins have not posted a winning season since 2018, and the results since then have not matched the standards associated with the Furman name.
That challenge now belongs to Mary Beth Dennison, who was named the program’s 11th head coach in June with the task of helping right the ship and making the program competitive again. Dennison arrives in Greenville with a clear understanding of what a successful program looks like, having spent time at the University of Michigan from 2019 to 2021 under the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history, Carol Hutchins.
“One of the things Jason Donnelly tasked me with was being competitive. We need to raise the bar and raise the standard,” Dennison said. “I wanted to make sure I built a staff that could elevate the competitiveness of our practice setting and the drive that the girls have every single day.”
So what made Furman the place for Coach Dennison?
Before arriving in Greenville, Dennison was at Georgia Southern University, where she established herself as a successful assistant coach while working primarily with the pitching staff. Her impact was clear. The last example came in the 2025 season, she coached All American Maddie Johnson, who recorded 110 strikeouts in 145 innings pitched, posted a 12–10 record, and finished her freshman year with a 2.03 ERA.
Under Dennison’s guidance, Georgia Southern continued to improve year after year. Even with that success, Dennison knew it was time to take the next step. The opportunity to become a head coach aligned with both her career goals and her family’s long term plans, and the upstate of South Carolina had been an area they had discussed for years.
“So I think I hit a point in my career where I realized I needed to make the jump and transition if I was going to the head coach position. Greenville is an area in the upstate that we’ve been looking to get into. My husband and I discussed it for years. If there’s an opportunity in the upstate, we’d like to be up here.”
Once Furman entered the picture, the fit made sense. The academic reputation, campus environment, and overall direction of the university aligned with what Dennison was looking for as she stepped into her first head coaching role.
“Furman’s campus is beautiful. I feel like it’s a place that kind of sells itself, and I think there’s a lot of great upside to the university. I was looking to find a place that’s a high academic institution. I’ve been at two previously and really enjoyed my experiences at both of those. I felt like Furman University was the right spot in terms of academics and the type of university and city we wanted to be in.”
I asked her about Furman’s high academic standards and whether that made recruiting harder or easier.
“So I don’t know that it’s necessarily easy, but it allows us to have a niche of individuals that we are recruiting instead of a broad group of people. It allows us to narrow who we would like to watch and evaluate. Of course, it can be a challenge finding athletes who want to go to a school that is so highly regarded academically, but I think it really just narrows our pool to choose from.”
The Southern Conference has long been defined by sustained success at the top, most notably by Chattanooga softball, which has won 16 SoCon regular season and tournament championships. That standard has been in place for years. At the same time, other programs have begun to make their own moves. Mercer has shown clear signs of rising within the league, highlighted lately by its 2025 SoCon Tournament Championship, and UNCG has had its share of success as well.
So why not Furman?
With Mary Beth Dennison and her staff now in charge, there is a clear plan and direction in place. The focus on competitiveness, accountability, and daily standards is already being established. It is hard to see this group doing anything other than making Furman a respectable and competitive program in the Southern Conference, with the potential for more as the foundation continues to be built.
This is not an overnight or easy fix, but the early pieces are coming into place. Furman softball is in the early stages of becoming a program that better reflects the reputation of the university and athletic department it represents.
Find our complete conversation below at the Fastpitch Wire Softball YouTube Channel. It is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
