LOGAN, Utah - Utah State University Director of Athletics Scott Barnes announced Monday that changes will be made in the USU softball program as Candi Letts will no longer be the head coach, effective immediately.

"I am very shocked and disappointed in the administrative decision," Letts said. "When you are fixing a broken program you build from recruiting new parts and we have had two outstanding recruiting classes to coach, with another one coming in and whomever inherits this program will be smiling when they take the field next season and for years to come."

Letts ended her three seasons at the helm of the Aggies with a 41-107 career record, including 10-37 this year. The Aggies ended the season with a 3-17 Western Athletic Conference record, finishing in eighth-place. Utah State did not advance to the WAC Tournament, missing postseason play for the first time since joining the league for the 2006 season.

"This is always a difficult decision," said Jana Doggett, USU Senior Associate Athletics Director and the sport supervisor for softball. "We just didn't have the progress in the program that we wanted to see."

"We felt new leadership was needed," Barnes said.

In her first year, Utah State was 17-36 overall, including a 5-13 WAC mark, placing sixth in the league. In 2008, USU was 14-34 overall and ended WAC action with a 2-15 record, finishing seventh.

During her tenure at Utah State, Letts had three players earn first all-WAC honors. In 2007, Jamie Fife became the first Aggie to earn first-team all-WAC honors, while in 2008, the trend continued when both Amy Schaible and Kayla Dunn earned first team-honors. The 2009 season was the first since 2002 that USU did not have a player earn all-league honors.

Off the field, USU softball had a total of 10 players earn academic all-WAC honors, as five were honored in 2007 and five more were honored in 2008. The 2009 academic all-WAC softball team has not been announced yet.

Letts came to Utah State from Northern Illinois where she was an assistant coach in 2006. Prior to NIU, Letts was the head coach at the University of Mississippi, where she spent seven seasons guiding the Rebels program from 1999-2005 and compiled a 153-246 (.383) record. Prior to being the Rebels head coach, Letts had a very successful run at Colorado State. She was head coach at CSU from 1994-1998, amassing a 160-106-1 (.602) record. While at CSU, the Rams captured a WAC Championship in 1997 and finished ninth in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) final poll.

Letts' coaching staff consisted of Arlene McKnight, who came to USU with Letts from Mississippi, and graduate assistant coach Kelly Park.

Candi Letts As Utah State Head Coach

Overall WAC WAC Finish
2007 17-36 5-13 6th
2008 14-34 2-15 7th
2009 10-37 3-17 8th
Total 41-107 10-45
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