ETBU’s Janae Shirley issued a public reprimand by the NCAA Division III Softball Committee
Published 7:02 pm Saturday, August 9, 2025
The NCAA Division III softball committee issued a public reprimand to ETBU head softball coach, Janae Shirley for comments made in the post game press conference after the Tigers fell to Texas Lutheran 2-0 in the Super Regionals on May 23.
The alleged incident occurred during the game when an official flipped off fans after disagreements on certain calls whether it’d be the strike zone or foul balls.
“I was ultimately disappointed in the NCAA in the decisions that they made leading up to this game. I don’t want to take away from anything that these girls do but I do think at some point we expect all of our student athletes to be at a certain standard and we expect the coaches just to live by a certain standard. I think at some point when you have an official who flips off the fans, I don’t think that it’s acceptable to not hold them to the same standard. I know in saying that, the NCAA will provide sanctions to me but I think at some point, we got to hold everybody that is representing the NCAA to the same standard. These girls do that. They do that everyday with what they do. Both teams did that today and it’s unfortunate that the NCAA allowed that to happen,” said Shirley.
The NCAA softball committee released the following statement:
“The Division III Softball Committee issued a public reprimand to East Texas Baptist softball coach Janae Shirley for comments made during a postgame press conference May 23.
After the conclusion of the super regional at East Texas Baptist, Shirley questioned the committee’s decision to allow an umpire to work the game.
The Division III Softball Committee investigated alleged behavior by the umpire from the previous day and found no evidence to corroborate the allegations.
Coach Shirley’s comments were deemed an act of misconduct as defined by NCAA Bylaw 31.02.3, which was read during the pretournament meeting. Misconduct is any act of unprofessional behavior that discredits the event and occurs from the time the championship field is announced through the end of the championship (including travel to or from or in the locale of the competition or practice).”
