From the time that Kenny Gajewski took over the Oklahoma State softball program in June 2015, he has led the Cowgirls back into the national spotlight and molded his team into one of college softball’s most promising programs.

During each of his first four seasons at the helm, Gajewski (pronounced ‘GUY-ehh-ski’) has guided the Cowgirls to the NCAA Tournament. He has also won 154 games during his first four years in Stillwater - the most by a head coach during his or her first four seasons in team history – and in 2019, he led OSU back to the Women’s College World Series for the eighth time in school history.

Gajewski’s 154 wins is a notable feat in and of itself. But when you also consider that several of the OSU head coach’s wins have come against the nation’s toughest competition, it only furthers the already-impressive nature of his team’s performance.

Fourty-five of Gajewski’s victories came during an incredible 2019 campaign that saw the Cowgirls finish second in the Big 12 conference for the second-straight year en route to its first WCWS appearance since 2011. OSU’s 45 victories was the program’s highest single-season total since 1994, its eight postseason wins were the most in school history and the Cowgirls bested top-25 foes on 14 occasions – more than any other OSU team in the program’s rich history. 

The Pokes finished the year at No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, marking the school’s highest standing in the national polls since finishing the 1998 season at No. 4. Non-coincidentally, that 1998 team was the last OSU squad to win a World Series contest until the 2019 team toppled fifth-seeded Florida, 2-1, in Oklahoma City in 2019.

In conference play, the Cowgirls continue to be the Big 12’s rising power behind Oklahoma, as they have improved upon their standing in the league each season under Gajewski thus far. 

Oklahoma State posted a 6-12 record and finished fifth in Gajewski’s first season at the helm, but the rate of improvement has been astronomical the last three years. The Pokes made their first leap in 2017 when they rattled off victories in 11 of their first 12 conference games and finished third behind Baylor and Oklahoma. In 2018, it was one step closer to the top as OSU racked up 12 Big 12 victories and posted the program’s first top-two finish in the conference in 15 years.

The 2019 season was merely the next step in the progression and was the best yet of the Gajewski era.

OSU secured 13 wins against Big 12 opponents in 2019 – the program’s best total since 2003 and finished second for the second-straight year. The Big 12 Conference finished as the No. 2 RPI league in the country at the season’s end, one step higher than it did in 2018, only further adding to the impressive season that the Cowgirls produced in the conference.

During Gajewski’s first three seasons in charge, the program underwent immense growth to get back to the standards it once maintained during the reign of legendary coach Sandy Fischer. The 2016 team – Gajewski’s first – produced 32 wins, the 2017 team added 38 wins to its coach’s tally and the 2018 squad posted 39 victories on its resume.

Oklahoma State, for all its success on the field, also continued to be among the best away from the diamond in 2019. The Cowgirls had 10 players named Academic All-Big 12 honorees, marking the fourth-straight year that OSU has had at least 10 competitors recognized by the league office. Forty-two Cowgirls have been named to one of the Academic All-Big 12 teams during Gajewski’s four seasons – the most of any team in the conference.

The OSU head coach also has overseen three Academic All-District and three Academic All-America honorees during his stint in Stillwater.

Gajewski’s tenure in Stillwater has helped reshape the program record books, as Oklahoma State has added 15 names to list of NFCA All-Region honorees and 19 to its list of players to receive all-conference accolades. That group of elite talent includes two-time Big 12 Player of the Year Vanessa Shippy, 2019 NFCA All-American Samantha Show and four-time All-Big 12 honoree Madi Sue Montgomery.

Twice, Gajewski and his staff have also been the one’s recognized by the NFCA, as Oklahoma State was named the Midwest Regional Coaching Staff of the Year after both the 2017 and 2019 seasons. The 2017 season was highlighted by the program’s first top-three finish in the Big 12 since 2010 and a road shutout of No. 1 Florida during the NCAA Gainesville Regional in May. Meanwhile, the 2019 team picked up 11 victories over top-15 opponents, and met or surpassed a number of benchmarks for elite programs that the Cowgirls hadn’t touched in nearly 20 years.

While the last three seasons have been filled with whilrwinds of success for a program reborn, Gajewski’s inaugural Stillwater campaign wasn’t without its highlights either, as it was a year that saw him lead the Cowgirls back to the postseason for the first time since 2011. Under his leadership, OSU led the Big 12 in Academic All-Big 12 selections, broke 11 school records and had its first player earn both Academic All-America and All-America honors since 2003 in Vanessa Shippy.

Shippy, under Gajewski’s watchful eye, also earned All-America and Academic All-America honors in 2017 and 2018, making her just the second Oklahoma State athlete, regardless of sport, to earn at least three All-America and Academic All-America honors.
OSU showed it was destined for a return to success early in Gajewski’s first season when OSU picked up a February win over No. 9 Washington in the Mary Nutter Classic, which was the program’s first win over a top-10 opponent since 2013. From there, the Cowgirls continued to build on their early success as they looked to restore the program to its winning ways.

Before coming to Oklahoma State, Gajewski coached alongside Tim Walton at Florida, where the Gators won back-to-back national championships in his final two years. In 2015, Florida posted top-25 NCAA marks in earned run average (1.63), scoring (6.55 runs per game) and on-base percentage (.438), in addition to leading the nation in the fielding percentage category. The Gators’ 60-7 record led the country in win-loss percentage and marked the second-highest win total in school history. 

Prior to joining the Gators, Gajewski spent the 2011-12 season as the director of baseball operations at Tennessee. With the Volunteers, he was in charge of managing UT’s camps, overseeing student managers and handling the day-to-day operations of the baseball program. Gajewski’s roots trace back to the University of Oklahoma, however, as he played for the Sooner baseball squad in 1994 that won a national championship and earned his first coaching stint as a graduate assistant the following season.

Gajewski then served as a volunteer assistant at Kansas State in 1996 before returning to Norman, where he would begin a 10-year stretch as the Sooners’ turf and maintenance director. In 2001, the field at OU’s L. Dale Mitchell Park was named the Beam Clay Baseball Diamond of the Year. That same season, the OU Softball Complex was presented the Field Maintenance Award by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and TURFACE sports field products.

From 2007 onward, Gajewski was the owner and operator of three Norman, Okla.-based turf businesses - Champions Athletic Turf (athletic field renovation), Sooner Curb and Border (decorative concrete) and Ameriturf MidSouth (synthetic turf), but has since moved on from the projects to fully invest in his coaching career.

A native of Los Alamitos, Calif., Gajewski has two children, Preston and Logan Gajewski.