University of Arizona Athletics

Arizona Softball hired Josh Bloomer as an assistant coach, the program announced in June of 2023. Bloomer came to Arizona following an NCAA Regional appearance with South Carolina and will serve as the hitting coach for the Wildcats.
 
Bloomer joined Arizona after one season at South Carolina as the hitting coach for the Gamecocks. Under Bloomer’s guidance in 2023, the Gamecocks finished with a 40-22 record – a 14-win improvement from their 26-30 record in 2022 – and made their first postseason appearance since 2019. In his lone season as South Carolina’s hitting coach, the Gamecocks finished the season ranked third in the SEC with 78 doubles in 2023 – improved from finishing the 2022 season ranked 12th in the SEC in doubles.
 
In his first season at Arizona, Bloomer helped Arizona’s hitters to a Pac-12-leading .329 batting average, .404 on-base percentage, and 6.27 runs per game. The Wildcats’ home runs (72) ranked second in the Pac-12 and their slugging percentage (.526) ranked third in the conference. With Bloomer on staff, six Wildcats hit above .300 and four players hit double-digit home runs.

Prior to South Carolina, Bloomer spent three seasons at Duke, helping lead the Blue Devils to the 2021 ACC Tournament title and was a member of the 2021 and 2022 NFCA Regional Coaching Staffs of the Year.
 
During his time at Duke, the Blue Devils had a 111-27 record and ranked in the top five of the ACC in batting average in each of his three seasons. In 2022, Duke hit .330 to rank second in the ACC and ninth in the NCAA – the highest batting average in the program’s history. Duke ranked first or second in the ACC in all offensive categories in 2022, highlighted by leading the conference in home runs per game (1.76), slugging percentage (.610), on-base percentage (.417), and scoring (7.16). Duke’s scoring and slugging percentage ranked third in the NCAA.
 
In 2021, Duke led the ACC in doubles (79) and triples (15) under Bloomer’s guidance and ranked fifth in the conference with a .271 batting average. The Blue Devils won their first ACC Tournament Championship with a 44-12 record and earned the No. 13 seed in their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
In the shortened 2020 season, Bloomer helped Duke rank in the top 30 in the NCAA in several offensive categories with a .319 batting average (26th), a .528 slugging percentage (19th), 44 doubles (15th), .37 triples per games (21st), and 6.59 runs per game (19th).
 
Before coaching at Duke and South Carolina, Bloomer had coaching stints at Louisville Male High School and Mercy Academy in Louisville. At Louisville Male, Bloomer led the softball program to a 458-147-4 record in seven seasons, highlighted by winning the NFCA and Kentucky state championship titles in 2019, six regional championships, and state runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2017.
 
Bloomer served as the head softball coach at Mercy Academy from 2005-12 and led them to the Kentucky state championship in 2012.
 
Bloomer is a graduate of the University of Kentucky where he earned his master’s in education in 2002.