Katie Browder

Katie Rietkovich Browder was named an associate head coach on June 17, 2024.

Browder has spent the last 10 years in the college coaching and has SEC ties throughout her career.  She spent the 2024 season on Chastain’s staff at Charlotte, while also making stops at Ole Miss (2016-18, 2021-23), Minnesota (2019-20), and Savannah State (2015). She played at Georgia from 2010-11, where she was a part of its run to a third-place finish at the 2010 Women’s College World Series.

Browder’s South Carolina roots run deep, as her father and sister have also donned the garnet and black. Ty Rietkovich played tight end for the Gamecocks from 1980-83 and worked on the football staff from 1984-86. Her sister Caroline (Rietkovich) Coleman was a cheerleader and is currently on Shane Beamer’s staff as the coordinator of football operations.

In 2024, she helped the 49ers to a 39-18 overall mark, a 21-6 record in the American Athletic Conference and the program’s first conference tournament championship, advancing to the NCAA Regionals for the second year in a row. The 49ers reached as high as 15th in the NCAA RPI and were ranked 27th in the final RPI before the NCAA Tournament selections. She guided first baseman Arianna Rodi to NFCA All-Region First Team honors. Rodi was named the top first baseman in the country and 27th-best overall player according to the Softball America. She was also tabbed a First Team All-American by Softball America, the first in program history.

Prior to her arrival in the Queen City, Browder spent three seasons as an assistant coach in charge of the offense at Ole Miss from 2021-23 under head coach Jamie Trachsel. She also served as a volunteer assistant at Ole Miss from 2016-18. In 2023, she helped the Rebels break their single-season home run mark with 49 round trippers. Her 2022 squad posted top-five single-season totals in hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, runs and slugging percentage. Outfielder Tate Whitley led the SEC in hits during the regular season and finished with the third-most hits in a single season for Ole Miss. During her first run with the Rebels, she was a part of the staff that led Ole Miss to the 2017 SEC Tournament Championship.

Browder was an assistant coach at Minnesota and helped the Gophers to the 2019 Women’s College World Series. Minnesota’s staff was named the 2019 NFCA Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, she helped develop Softball America All-American Natalie DenHartog, a top-three finalist for 2019 NFCA Freshman of the Year honors.

She began her playing career at Georgia where was a part of the Bulldogs’ run to a third-place finish at the 2010 Women’s College World Series. She later played at the NAIA level at South Carolina-Beaufort and Reinhardt University. At USCB in 2013 she was named to NFCA’s All-Region Second Team and the All-Sun Conference Team. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from USC Beaufort in December 2014. She completed her Master’s in Kinesiology from Georgia Southern in 2016.