Mike Larabee joined the Maryland softball staff as an assistant coach Oct. 7, after four seasons as head softball coach at Central Washington University.
2019 was another successful for Larabee at the helm as the Wildcats set a new Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for most consecutive regular-season titles with four. The Wildcats finished the regular season with a 30-16 overall record, putting together an outstanding conference record of 21-7. Since 2010, this is the fourth time the team has notched 20 or more conference wins. The team was nearly unstoppable on the road, going 12-3. Larabee was named the GNAC Head Coach of the Year for the third time in four years.
The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA West Regionals in La Jolla, California. The trip was the Wildcats' second in four years. The last time they earned a spot in the regional, the Wildcats walked away with the region crown. Savannah Egbert and Katie Kastning earned a spot on the All-GNAC First Team. Both Egbert and Kastning were unanimous selections to the team. Additionaly, Egbert and Maddy Zerr garned First and Second Team All-West Region honors, respectively. Zerr was also named Honorable Mention All-GNAC.
The 2018 campaign saw Larabee's Wildcats capture their third-straight GNAC title after finishing 31-16 overall with a 19-9 mark in conference play. Three Wildcats (Savannah Egbert, Lexie Strasser, and Katie Kastning) earned unanimous selections to the First Team All-GNAC squad, while Rachael Johnson earned Second Team All-GNAC honors. Egbert also earned NFCA First Team All-West Region honors and DII CCA All-West Region Second Team accolades.
In 2017, Larabee and the Wildcats followed up a historic 2016 season by winning its second-straight GNAC Title with a conference mark of 20-6, tying a GNAC Tournament era record for wins. After starting the 2017 season 7-5 the Wildcats ripped off 15 straight wins and went 20-1 in a thirty-day span. Larabee's efforts earned his his second-consecutive GNAC Head Coach of the Year selection.
In his first season with the Wildcats in 2016, CWU enjoyed its greatest season to date, posting a 42-17 record after winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships, and advancing to the NCAA Division II West Super Regional. CWU captured the West Region Championship and advanced to the Super Regional. After his first year, Larabee was named GNAC Head Coach of the Year.
Larabee spent six seasons at Arkansas before Central Washington. In the first four years of his career at Arkansas, Larabee saw the Razorbacks garner nine All-SEC honors spread among five student-athletes including Freshman of the Year accolades for Devon Wallace in 2012 and Scholar-Athlete of the Year recognition for Jessica Bachkora in 2010. Wallace, the first SEC Freshman of the Year in program history, was also named to the All-SEC First Team and All-Freshman Team in 2012.
Arkansas posted a 36-20 overall records in 2013 to go along with a 12-10 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The team’s overall and conference win totals were highs under Larabee’s direction. The team’s success translated to a No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament-the program’s highest conference seeding since 2002-and a No. 2 seed in the Norman Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The team’s success came with numerous single-season program records including batting average (.283), runs scored (304), runs batted in (274), walks (229), slugging percentage (.470), on-base percentage (.390) and stolen-base percentage (.859). The Razorbacks’ 61 home runs during the season represent the No. 2 single-season team total on the program’s all-time list. Three of Arkansas’ five highest home run totals came under the guidance of Larabee (2010, 2012, 2013).
Along the way, Arkansas won nine games against ranked opponents in 2013 including series wins against No. 8 Missouri, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 22 Georgia. The Razorbacks also knocked off No. 2 Tennessee in a rain-shortened series in Knoxville.
The Razorbacks had an outstanding season in 2012, Larabee’s third year at the helm. The team tallied wins over No. 1 California, No. 3 Alabama, No. 7 Baylor, No. 9 Tennessee and No. 11 Georgia. The win over Alabama broke a 30-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide that dated back to the 2002 season. Arkansas was an at-large selection into the 2012 NCAA Tournament and advanced to the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional final in Berkeley against the top overall national seed Cal.
In 2012, Arkansas not only more than doubled its total wins and conference wins from the previous season, it more than tripled home runs hit with 60 on the season. That came in third in Arkansas’ record books behind the 2008 and 2013 seasons, respectively.
The Razorbacks’ win over top-ranked Cal in the NCAA Tournament was the program’s second win over a No. 1 team under Larabee. During the pre-conference schedule of the 2011 season, Arkansas knocked off No. 1 UCLA at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.
During the summer of 2010, Larabee served as an assistant coach for the USA Softball Futures Team. He assisted the team at the 2010 KFC World Cup of Softball presented by Six Flags where the Futures faced 2008 Olympic champion Japan, Canada and three-time Olympic champion Team USA. Larabee helped coach the Futures to a bronze medal at the World Cup.
Larabee previously coached five seasons at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, where his teams ranked among the nation’s top-15 in batting average in 2007 and 2008. He won 92 games in the last three seasons with the Horizon League tournament championships and NCAA Tournament bids in 2007 and 2008. In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Larabee is a two-time member of the United States National Softball Team coaching pool and was a two-time all-world selection during this playing career.
Larabee led Wright State to 34 wins in 2009, second-most in school history, while the 16-8 conference record also gave the Raiders the most league victories in the history of the program. The 33-26 record in 2008 was the first winning record for WSU since 2001, and the NCAA Tournament appearances in ’07 and ’08 were just the second and third in ever for Wright State.
During his five-year run with the Raiders, Larabee compiled a 114-147 overall record, a 49-51 mark in Horizon League play and a 12-6 record in the league tournament. In Larabee’s last two seasons, Wright State went 29-15 in league play.
The 2008 club won the Horizon League Tournament with wins over Loyola, Illinois-Chicago and two over regular-season champion Cleveland State to advance to an NCAA Regional in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the Raiders fell to Michigan and Kent State. Larabee was named Wright State’s Coach of the Year following the 2008 campaign.
The 2007 club was 25-35 overall, but won the conference tournament as the No. 7 seed with wins over Cleveland State, Butler, Illinois-Chicago and Cleveland State again. Wright State fell to Northwestern and Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament in Evanston, Ill.
With a 2-2 mark in the 2009 Horizon League Tournament, Larabee led his team to a 10-2 record in conference tournament play during the past three seasons.
Other 2009 highlights include six student-athletes earning All-Horizon League honors, a school record for team fielding percentage (.965), three individual single-season records and six individual career records. The Raiders were No. 15 in the nation with a .309 batting average, No. 35 with 5.15 runs scored per game and No. 37 with a .445 slugging percentage.
Larabee’s 2008 squad set 11 school records, including 67 home runs, which shattered the previous mark of 25 in 1999. WSU was No. 5 in the nation with 0.36 triples per game, No. 10 with a .315 batting average and a .510 slugging percentage, No. 12 with 5.85 runs and 1.14 home runs per game, and No. 23 with 1.46 doubles per game.
A former member of the U.S. National Men’s Fastpitch Team in 1996 and 2000, Larabee was named to the USA Women’s National Team Coaching Pool for the 2005-08 and 2009-12 Olympic Quadrenniums. As a result, he was part of the selection camp committee which chose participants for the Pan American Qualifying Team. That team competed in Guatemala in 2005 and qualified for the 2006 World Championships in Beijing, China, and the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In summer 2006, he was part of the coaching staff of the World University Games in Taiwan and helped the United States win the gold medal.
He was selected as a clinician for the NCAA Youth Education Through Sports (YES) clinic during the 2009 Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Larabee was an assistant at the University of Illinois for three years (2002-04) prior to going to Wright State. In 2003, Illinois earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time. In 2004, Illinois ended the year ranked No. 17 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, was the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Waco Regional and came within one victory of advancing to the Women’s College World Series.
Larabee was head softball coach from 1998-2001, assistant football in 1997-2000 and coached wrestling from 1999-2000 at Kentlake High School in Kent, Wash. He also taught advanced weight training and speed development. He was named Class 4A softball Coach of the Year in 2001 after Kentlake finished second in the state. His 1998 team was fifth, while the 2000 team placed fourth. He was softball coach and assistant football coach at KHS In 1996 and 1997.
In his six years as a head coach at the prep level, Larabee’s teams managed a 145-25 record, with an 88-6 mark in the South Puget Sound League (SPSL), and he was named Seattle-Tacoma All-Area Coach of the Year in 1996 and 1999.
He won six consecutive SPSL North League titles (1996-2001) and his 2001 squad had the highest team grade point average in the state.
Larabee also worked one year as a pitching and outfield coach for the University of Puget Sound baseball team in 1992. Other coaching experience includes participating in the Diamond Basics Softball Clinics in Kent, Wash., from 1994-2001 and working as assistant baseball coach at Kent Meridian High School in 1994-95.
In addition to playing on the U.S. National Men’s Fastpitch Team, he also participated in the 1999 Pan American Games National Team Festival. A three-time American Softball Association All-American (1992, 1995, 1997), he played in the U.S. Olympic Sports Festival four times and was named to the ISC All-World Team twice (1990, 1997).
He played baseball at MiraCosta and Green River community colleges, and at Washington State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1986. He earned his master’s in exercise science from WSU in 1988. While working on his master’s, he was an assistant baseball coach at WSU, working with the outfielders.
Larabee and his wife Dawn have a daughter, Michaela, and a son, John.
