Taylor softball has a new captain at the helm — first-year coach Grace Glidewell will steer the ship in the 2026 season.
Glidewell was hired on June 23, taking over from interim head coach Doug Gower, who went 58-48 over two seasons after head coach Jessica Brown’s one-year stint at Taylor in 2023.
Glidewell grew up familiar with the Crossroads League. Her father, Jay Johnson, worked as an assistant coach at Grace College for over a decade before accepting a position at NCCAA school Carolina University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Glidewell played her graduate senior year and worked with her father as an assistant coach at Carolina after her on-field career concluded.
Despite the quick turnaround from playing to coaching, Glidewell is confident in her high-level knowledge of the game.
“Growing up with coaches as parents, it affected me as a player,” Glidewell said. “I wasn't able to just play freely because I knew everything other coaches were thinking. I definitely think there's more depth to me in coaching than (just) my actual age.”
Glidewell’s college career began with the Wolfpack of North Carolina State, but a torn ACL just before her freshman year and the Coronavirus pandemic sidetracked her first two seasons. She transferred to UNC Charlotte for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, rotating in as a defensive utility piece, but she shone at her final stop.
During her graduate senior season in 2024, Glidewell finished third at Carolina University in batting average, hitting .391 with 12 home runs, led the Bruins in RBI with 51 and finished fifth in the NCCAA in on-base-plus-slugging with an impressive 1.336.
Carolina is also where she met her husband, Matt, who will join Taylor as both an assistant and strength and conditioning coach. The decision to immediately leave North Carolina after getting married in June was not an easy one, but felt like part of “God’s plan,” she said.
“There were three qualities that a job had to have in order for me and my husband to uproot,” Glidewell said. “One was community, the second one was, obviously, financially, and then the third one was just like Christian culture. Without a doubt, Taylor was all three of those and it was so obvious that it felt wrong to turn down the job when I got offered it.”
The Trojans will attempt to improve after a disappointing conclusion to the 2025 season. Despite finishing in the Crossroads League’s fifth spot with a 30-20 record, the Trojans were bounced in the play-in round of the CL Tournament. Eight-seed Spring Arbor snuck in despite forfeiting 23 games due to rules violations then upset the Trojans 8-1 in tournament play.
Glidewell is preparing to instill a grit-and-grind work ethic in her squad from their first practice. She is setting a high bar for her players and wants the Trojans to excel in all aspects of the game. Even after a rough end to last season, she still has her sights set on the NAIA National Tournament.
“I want to be good at everything,” Glidewell said. “I want to be good, well-rounded ball players that compete and I want people to be scared of how scrappy and gritty we are.”
Consistency is another aspect she aims to bring to the locker room. Glidewell is Taylor’s fourth softball coach in five seasons, but she hopes to establish a solid foundation based on discipleship, mentorship and hard work in her first season that her players can depend on.
Glidewell’s Trojans open the season with their sights set on their first conference and tournament championships since 2014 in the spring of 2026.
