Tina Plew Whitlock, a two-time All-American at the University of South Carolina and pitching coach for the British National Team, joined the Paladins’ staff as an assistant coach in March.
Whitlock has served on the British National Team staff for the past two seasons at the senior and Under-19 level. She helped Great Britain earn a bronze medal at the European Games to secure a trip to the 2018 World Games in Japan.Â
A volunteer assistant at South Carolina in 2016, Whitlock has served as a private instructor at Apex Athletic Performance and as national baseball and softball director at Stars & Stripes Sports in Columbia, S.C.
Prior to her return to her alma mater, Whitlock spent seven seasons as a head coach at the NCAA Division II level. She led the Le Moyne Dolphins to the NCAA Tournament in her first year at the school in 2009, helping Jennifer Farrelly earn Northeast 10 Conference Player of the Year and Jenna Vanacore attain NFCA All-America third-team accolades. In her four years, she saw 17 students claim All-Northeast 10 honors, including five on the league's first team while her teams went 115-90-1 (.561). Following her time at LeMoyne, Whitlock returned to the state of South Carolina to serve as head coach at Lander University for three years before joining the Gamecock staff.
Whitlock played four years at South Carolina, garnering All-America recognition in 1995 and 1997. She still holds the career record for at-bats (872), doubles (58) and sacrifice flies (16) for a Gamecock. She earned all-region accolades all four seasons and was recognized on the first All-Southeastern Conference team in 1997. A second-team All-American that year, she helped the Gamecocks make their third NCAA Women's College World Series appearance with a 63-5 record.
Whitlock continued her career on the diamond as a member of the US Women's National Team, playing on the team that qualified for the 1999 Pan-Am Games. Whitlock also played with the Durham Dragons in the Women's Professional Softball League in 1999.
She started her coaching career at USC Upstate as an assistant coach, moving to Chattanooga for the 2000 season where she helped the Mocs make the NCAA Tournament. She chose to coach in high schools for the next few years in Georgia before moving back into the college ranks as an assistant at Mercer in 2007.
A 1997 graduate of South Carolina in psychology, Whitlock earned her master’s in teaching at Converse in 2000. She has two sons, Aaron and Brian.
