Utes Softball Coach Amy Hogue’s Deep Utah Roots
May 31, 2023, 2:55 PM | Updated: 2:57 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah softball is going to the World Series for the first time since 1994. Their head coach Amy Hogue was a player on that team and joined Hans and Scotty to talk about her team and her deep Utah roots.
While Hogue would mostly like to keep things centered around her team, there is no denying her deep sense of pride of having grown up in Utah, played for the Utes, and now coaching them.
Amy Hogue, Ute Proud
Coach Hogue said the minute that last pitch was ruled a strike and third out, a myriad of emotions began to swirl. While it would have been easy and understandable for coach Hogue to revel in some of her own memories of making the World Series as a Ute, she says most of her thoughts centered around her players, and the joy they were feeling in that moment.
“Oh gosh, a lot of emotions,” Hogue said. “There was a team around me- my players that were so excited that I couldn’t help but live kind of vicariously through them. When I went, it was so long ago, and I really don’t think about that except for the fact that you guys always talk about it. Everybody wants to bring it up. They are my joy, they put in the work it takes to get there, and the focus is on them.”
Good morning.
Tomorrow is gameday in Oklahoma City.#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/Z1VQ0iCOm1
— Utah Softball (@Utah_Softball) May 31, 2023
There are very few head coaches that can say they grew up in, played for, and then coached their home states’ flagship program. Coach Hogue is one of the few. She’s very proud of her Utah roots, and proud to bring in talented athletes who tend to learn to love the Beehive State as much as she does.
“I love our state,” Hogue said. “I travel around it a ton and I see everywhere else. I enjoy everywhere else, but there is nowhere I’d rather be- rather live and call home. It’s fun to bring in a lot of people who are not from Utah and they are learning what I already know and that is this is the greatest state out there. A lot of them stay after they graduate, their parents get pretty mad at me about that, but they get smart and don’t move back to California or Arizona. They stay in Salt Lake.”
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
