Razorback softball head coach Courtney Deifel has announced (July 2, 2015) the addition of Boo De Oliveira as an assistant to her coaching staff. De Oliveira has spent the past two seasons at Arizona State, serving as the Sun Devils’ pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In addition to her stay in Tempe, she has previous experience as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at North Carolina and Purdue.
Along with her coaching duties, De Oliveira currently serves as the 2nd Vice President of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and was the recipient of the organization’s 2015 Service Award.
De Oliveira helped guide Arizona State to an 80-32-1 combined record in two years, advancing to the regional final of the NCAA Tournament in each season. She coached a pair of NFCA All-Americans in Dallas Escobedo and Amber Freeman with Freeman earning national honors in both years under De Oliveira’s watch. Both were also recognized as finalists for National Player of the Year accolades. Through her two seasons, she also coached her student-athletes to 21 All-Pac 12 selections and 11 NFCA All-West Region certificates.
As the Sun Devils’ recruiting coordinator, De Oliveira brought in a pair of top-20 nationally ranked recruiting classes with the 2015 ASU positioned as high as No. 8 in the country. In her first season at Arizona State, she recruited and signed two 2014 Gatorade State Players of the Year in Breanna Macha and Dale Ryndak, both of which earned spots on the All-Pac 12 Freshman Team. De Oliveira also had a hand in top-20 recruiting classes at North Carolina.
De Oliveira spent 2011-13 at North Carolina as the assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator. In those three years, the Tar Heels posted a 117-57 overall record with a 39-19 mark in ACC play including the regular-season title in 2012. She helped lead the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths with a spot in the 2012 Athens Regional final. North Carolina also collected three NFCA All-Southeast Region picks and 11 All-ACC accolades during De Oliveira’s time in Chapel Hill including 2012 ACC Pitcher of the Year honors for Lori Spingola.
After a successful playing career at Wisconsin, De Oliveira returned to the Big Ten as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue. During a three-year run (2007-10) with the Boilermakers, De Oliveira helped her team to 92 wins and was part of the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008; Purdue followed by advancing to its first NCAA regional final in 2009. De Oliveira was part of the 2008 NFCA Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year. She coached nine All-Big Ten performers during her time in West Lafayette.
De Oliveira began her coaching career at Division III Edgewood College in 2006, followed by the head coaching role at Madison Area Technical College at the NJCAA level in 2007. At Edgewood, she was part of the LMC Coaching Staff of the Year that helped the program to 30 wins and the first-ever undefeated season (16-0) in conference history. De Oliveira revived a dormant program at Madison and led the WolfPack to a top-10 national ranking with the help of two NJCAA All-America nominees. She was responsible for recruiting the entire roster at Madison.
During her collegiate career at Wisconsin, De Oliveira was a three-time Big Ten performer and continues to be listed in the program’s career records book. Among a handful of statistical categories, she still ranks fourth in career total bases (299), fifth in hits (196), tied for seventh in home runs (20) and ninth in RBI (95). A three-time team captain, De Oliveira led Wisconsin to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2002 and 2005. In a show of her leadership away from the field, she was the recipient of the 2005 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and named a Coca Cola Community All-American.
The former Boo Gillette is married to Emerson De Oliveira and the couple resides in Fayetteville.
