Candi Letts
Letts comes to Colorado State after serving as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Creighton, the for five years. “My coaching philosophy is very simple,” says Letts. “Play hard, go hard, and whatever happens, happens. If you work hard at what you do, your chances of being consistent and for success are much better. If you don’t go out every day to get yourself better, you won’t get it done. Everybody has to be aggressive and want to get better. If they have that attitude, they will get better.” That coaching philosophy also pertains to the classroom. Letts understands to be a successful athletes, you must first be a successful student. “If you don’t have a goal to be the best student-athlete that you can possibly be, then the term student doesn’t apply,” says Letts. “You have to be a good student to be a good athlete. If you don’t take that seriously, then you won’t accomplish what you want on the field, because you’re not mentally tough enough to do it.” Letts pitched for four seasons at Creighton before graduating in 1983 and led the Bluejays to three consecutive trips to the Softball College World Series. Letts had a career ERA of 0.76, 43 career victories, 16 saves, 276 strikeouts as a Lady Jay. In 1982, Letts led the nation in saves with nine, which still ranks as the second highest single season total in NCAA history. At West Delaware HS in Manchester, Iowa, she was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the state her senior year and was inducted into the Iowa High School Pitcher’s Hall of Fame in 1980. Following her playing career, Letts was a high school softball coach before returning to her alma mater in 1988 as assistant coach. Twice in her five years, the Bluejays earned NCAA regional bids. Three times, 1988, 1989, and 1992, Creighton was ranked among the top 20 nationally. From 1984 to 1988, Letts was the head softball coach at Burlington High School in Iowa. Letts took over a program that had won only nine games over a three-year period. By the end of her tenure, the team earned a trip to the Iowa State Softball Championship, a first for a Burlington softball team. During those same years, Letts also coached the girl’s swimming team, the boy’s tennis team, the sophomore girl’s basketball team and the junior high track team. 
head coach Candi Letts begins her fourth season at the helm of the Colorado State Ram softball team. Last season she led the Rams to a 31-22 record, their best finish since 1992. In her three years at Colorado State, Letts has taken a program that was dropped after the 1992 season, and has propelled them into a hard-working and dangerous ballclub capable of contending in one of the premier softball conferences in the country.
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