Two of the Best: Sippel and Miller Named National Finalists

Husker fans, the coaching staff behind that 52-win season is getting its due.

Nebraska softball’s Lori Sippel and Diane Miller were both named top-25 finalists for D1 Softball’s 2026 Assistant Coach of the Year, the organization announced Wednesday.

Start with the season they built. The Huskers went 52-8 and 23-1 in Big Ten play — the 52 wins tied a program record, the 23 conference wins were the most in school history and tied a Big Ten record outright. Somewhere in the middle of it came a 27-game win streak that stretched across two months.

Sippel, who retired this offseason, coached a pitching staff that finished second nationally in strikeouts and in strikeout-to-walk ratio, fourth in ERA, fifth in WHIP, seventh in hits allowed per seven innings and ninth in shutouts. Six different team or individual marks in the Husker record book now belong to that group.

She also sent two more names into the All-America ranks: Jordy Frahm picked up her fourth First-Team honor and was named NFCA and USA Softball Player of the Year, while Alexis Jensen landed on the third team.

Miller, promoted to associate head coach, ran an offense that finished top three in program history in ten separate categories — batting average (.325), hits (539), runs (407), doubles (99), home runs (97), extra-base hits (210), RBIs (383), slugging (.577), total bases (957) and on-base percentage (.405).

Read that list again. Ten categories. Top three all-time. In one season.

The national Assistant Coach of the Year, along with the Pitching Coach of the Year presented by PitchCom, will be announced August 31.

Two finalists off one staff isn’t an accident. Husker Nation, that’s what a record-breaking season looks like from the dugout.