Bio

Christian Novak enters her third season at the helm of University of Dallas softball and is the eighth head coach of the program.

The shortened 2021 season was Novak's first as head coach.  With no preseason and little time to recruit, the Crusaders posted a 4-22 record to earn the sixth seed in the conference tournament.

Despite being hamstrung by season-ending injuries, Novak was able to post the best record in four years for the program.  The Crusaders finished with a 7-31 overall record, their best since 2018.  Their 2-1 series win over Southwestern in the regular season was the first Division III double header win since 2018, and the first time the Crusaders had taken two games from the Pirates in over a decade.

Prior to UD, Novak served as a pitching coach at Cottey College since 2018. Novak's coaching duties with Cottey included: pitching, catching, outfield, and slap hitting. In her first season she helped the Comets to a 22-2 record as a first-year NAIA program followed by a 12-4 record in 2019. Additionally, the 2019 pitching staff was strong with a 1.45 ERA which ranked fifth in the country. Novak worked with Comets' standout Kirsten Wallace, who ranked second nationally that season with a 0.56 ERA. In 2020, Novak guided the Comets to a fifth place conference ranking in team ERA and helped Lacey Cruz earn the program's first All-Conference pitching selection.

Novak graduated from the University of Memphis with a master's degree in strategic leadership and spent five years as a starting pitcher for the Tigers. She racked up 313 1/3 innings with 230 strikeouts for the Tigers and was recognized as the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week in 2016 and named to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll in 2017. She was also an Academic All-American over five seasons, 2014-2018, and named to the Academic All-Conference Team in that same span.

From 2013-16 Novak studied Apparel & Accessory Merchandising & home Furnishings. She excelled in the classroom, being named to the Dean's list in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Prior to joining the Memphis pitching staff, Novak was a standout student-athlete for the Nevada Tigers who earned the 2010 Missouri State Softball Championship. She was named to the All-District Team all four years, the All-Region Team three years, and the All-State Team three times as well.