Chris and Kate Malveaux from the Auburn softball team want to prove that two are better than one

Chris and Kate Malveaux, the husband-and-wife team who recently took over as co-head coaches of the Auburn softball program, are aware that their situation is somewhat unorthodox.

“I don’t think you hear about two head coaches at the same time very often. This is probably something new,” Kate Malveaux joked as she took the podium after her husband addressed the media at the introductory press conference at Auburn’s Woltosz Football Performance Center on Tuesday.

A partnership as co-head coach is special, but nothing unusual.

In Tennessee, where the Malveauxs most recently served as assistant coaches, Ralph and Karen Weekly did so successfully for two decades.

“They showed us that husbands and wives can do it,” Kate Malveaux said, referring to the Weeklies.

Although he came to Auburn with the plan in hand, there were still many questions about how the distinction between the assistant head coaches would play out once the cleats touch the ground at Auburn’s Jane B. Moore Field next softball season.

“When it comes to responsibility on the field, many discussions have already taken place,” assured Kate Malveaux.

Chris Malveaux comes to Auburn after spending three seasons as an assistant with the Lady Vols. Prior to his time in Knoxville, Chris Malveaux served in a similar role at Missouri for three years.

Over the course of his career, Malveaux earned a reputation as a great offensive player.

In the 2024 season, Malveaux helped Tennessee’s lineup produce impressive hitting numbers as the Lady Vols set an SEC record with 1.50 home runs per game and finished the season with a total of 84 home runs – the third-most in Tennessee history.

In 2023, Malveaux helped coach the SEC’s highest-scoring offense: The Lady Vols averaged 6.87 runs per game, ranking third nationally.

“That’s his claim to fame – committing crimes,” Kate Malveaux said of her husband.

Meanwhile, Kate Malveaux, like her husband in 2024, was also an assistant coach on Tennessee’s staff, but primarily coached the program’s catchers and baserunners.

“I’m going to hopefully take some of the responsibility that’s been placed on one person so they can stay in their offensive role, because we all know that sometimes in those roles you have to give a little bit of slack to be able to manage an entire team and not just the offense,” Kate Malveaux said.

“Chris put it succinctly: What he is may not be my strength and my strengths may not be his. Every head coach has weaknesses… every single one of them. You don’t have those weaknesses because you have both, and I think that’s what makes this really unique. We’re going to split the duties, but we’re going to make sure he can be in the cages to run that offense.”

When the Tigers step between the chalk lines, Chris Malveaux will serve as “speaking and acting head coach,” says Kate Malveaux.

“Of course there will be times when he has to make decisions without consulting me and I will talk to him about it at home,” laughed Kate Malveaux. “And that’s OK and I’ll get over it.”

“Will you?” her husband said, giggling in response.

If Chris Malveaux still wants to spend more time in the dugout during games, his wife is not afraid to be the one who leaves at third base.

“I’ve been around this game a lot, I’ve been around the SEC a lot, I can do this,” Kate Malveaux said. “I think that’s the cool thing – we’ve both done it.”

With years of combined experience in the SEC, the Malveauxs know how tough the competition in the league is – not to mention what it will be like when Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC in less than two weeks.

“That’s what makes it so much fun. With those two, there’s really no room for error. It’s been a tough conference to maneuver through week in and week out,” Chris Malveaux said of hosting Oklahoma and Texas, who just played each other in the final of the Women’s College World Series.

Still, the Malveauxs are aware that Auburn’s roster needs to be overhauled to become more competitive in the league.

“We obviously need to make a jump. We need to climb the ranks sooner rather than later,” said Chris Malveaux.

At this point, the newly hired assistant head coaches expect those who have not yet entered the transfer portal to return to Auburn next season.

So far, Riley McNemar, Mariah Penta and Annabelle Widra have entered the Tigers’ transfer portal.

In the meantime, the Malveauxs have been snooping around the portal a bit themselves.

“We get involved in the portal, you know, only for certain guys that have proven themselves or that we know, ‘Man, if they can put this and that together, they’re going to help us make that jump sooner rather than later,'” Chris Malveaux said. “We want that culture to take a step forward. Let’s go a little bit more to have the players that are here be competitive and understand that work ethic. But sometimes, to make it a little bit easier, we also want to bring others that lead by example and can see that firsthand. We want to make that jump forward as quickly as possible and we want to make sure we have the right people here.”

Chris and Kate Malveaux are aware of Auburn’s past success in softball and are committed to helping the Tigers program replicate its past successes.

Auburn has not participated in the Women’s College World Series since 2016, when it finished second in the country.

“It was a top national team, it was second in the World Series and that’s where we want to be,” said Chris Malveaux.