Nebraska Softball Coach Breaks Silence on 2019 Investigation During 2025 NFCA Convention

After the 2019 season, Nebraska launched an internal investigation after players filed complaints about head coach Rhonda Revelle.

Nebraska head softball coach Rhonda Revelle spoke publicly about being under investigation for the first time at the NFCA Convention. | Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Six years ago, the Nebraska softball program made national headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In front of hundreds of her peers at the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's annual convention in Las Vegas, Rhonda Revelle addressed what happened publicly for the first time.

Joined by assistant coaches Lori Sippel, Diane Miller, and Olivia Ferrell, Revelle took the stage for a session titled 'Building, Rebuilding and Sustaining Team Culture.'

The 50-minute session was raw and full of emotion from the coaches to the attendees as the longest-tenured staff in the game addressed an investigation that sparked national headlines just a few years ago.

Revelle had given 27 years to Nebraska when she was placed on paid leave at the end of the 2019 season. She spoke about the culture she developed and how she crafted it until it all came crashing down when a group of players brought a series of complaints to the university, claiming emotional abuse and a toxic culture on the team that included fat-shaming, verbal abuse, and erratic and harassing behavior.

Despite being reinstated ahead of the 2020 season, Revelle's coaching style underwent drastic changes. She admitted to being a little more timid and worried about saying or doing the wrong thing.

Spending the morning with @HuskerSoftball at NFCA Convention.

Building, rebuilding and sustaining team culture. pic.twitter.com/t7MuCB7eTx

— Maren Angus-Coombs (@Maren_Angus) December 12, 2025

However, a meeting after the 2021 season with seniors Courtney Wallace, Karlee Seevers, and Ferrell lifted the weight that Revelle was carrying for two years.

"We want our coaches back," Revelle recalled Wallace saying to her.

Rather than saying anything, Revelle told the crowd she got up and hugged the three pitchers with tears streaming down her face.

That is where the rebuild began.

Before the season, Wallace also addressed the parents on a Zoom call and asked them to love each player as much as they loved their daughter.

According to Revelle, that statement from Wallace helped the Huskers reach the NCAA Tournament.

The three were named captains and held Revelle in check. They had an agreement that if she ever got close to crossing a line, they would let her know. The team bought into what the coaching staff had to offer and by the end of the 2022 season, the Huskers raised the Big Ten Tournament trophy.

Since then, Nebraska has brought back several homegrown Huskers, including Jordy Bahl, Ava Kuszak, Kacie Hoffmann, Bella Bacon, Hannah Camenzind, and Lauren Camenzind. The coaches invite players to eat with them at the Training Table, where softball is not the topic of conversation unless the players bring it up.

There are always three captains, and that doesn't mean they are all starters because captains have to represent everyone on the team, according to Revelle.

Playing with joy and for each other is what took the Huskers to Game 3 of the Knoxville Super Regional in 2025, and '23 Strong' might be the motto that gets them back to Oklahoma City in 2026.

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