The Florida Vibe is ready to take the fields this summer with a legendary softball figure in place as the pro team’s new head coach: Dot Richardson.

Ryan Moore, the President of the Florida Vibe, told Line Drive Softball today:

“We are super excited to have Coach Dot lead our 2025 Florida Vibe team this professional season! Anytime any fastpitch team has the opportunity to have such an iconic coach, a legend of the sport as is Coach Richardson, you have to pinch yourself to make sure it’s really real!”

Richardson is a two-time gold medal winner in the Olympics (1996, 2000) and currently serves as the head coach at Liberty University in Conference USA after being hired in July of 2013.

At Liberty as head coach, she has led the Flames to four NCAA Regional finales and last year helped the team go 38-25 and the win the Conference USA championship in its first year in the league. The team is ranked No. 20 in the preseason NCAA Div. I polls.

As for her new role leading the Vibe program, the former Olympian.

“I am extremely honored and excited to lead the Florida Vibe for the 2025 season,” she begins.

“This team has amazing talent and camaraderie that will get us to the top of the competition.  I want to specifically thank Ryan Moore for this opportunity to bring my passion and experience to this level. The professional level of our sport is growing and brings a huge opportunity with tremendous talent to share to with the world.”

“Every young girl, like every young boy should have the opportunity to dream and even live out that dream as a professional athlete in the sport of their passion,” Coach Richardson continues.

“All of us with the Florida Vibe and others, will do our best to ensure that one day those dreams will become a reality for future generations. GO VIBE!”

Originally from Orlando, Fla., Dot was a three-time All-American infielder at UCLA and helped the Bruins win the 1982 NCAA D1 Championship. She was also selected as the NCAA Player of the Decade for the 1980’s.

After graduating from UCLA, Richardson obtained a master’s degree from Adelphi University (Long Island, N.Y.) and a doctorate in medicine at the University of Louisville in 1993.

Dot did her postdoctoral residence at the University of Southern California from 1993 to 1999 and from 1999 to 2000 she worked at the world-famous Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic (Los Angeles) in orthopedic sports medicine.

On the Vibe coaching staff, Richardson will be joined by her husband Bob Pinto along with Mike Scott and Leah Amico as her staff.

Amico—who served as last year’s head coach—is a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) for USA Softball and three-time All-American for the Arizona Wildcats where she won three NCAA D1 National Championship under Coach Mike Candrea.

The Vibe will be playing a 30-game professional schedule around the country in 2025 and is scheduled play June 10 through July 26, 2025, at events such as:

• The Top Gun Series (Kansas City, Mo.),
• The Florida Series (Clearwater & Bradenton, Fla.),
• The Mexico Series (Cabo, Mexico),
• The Triple Crown Series (Aurora, Col.),
• The New York Series (Long Island, N.Y.),
• The Oklahoma Series (Oklahoma City, Okla.),
• The Florida II Series (Bradenton, Fla.)

Click Here to see the team’s roster and, for more information, visit www.vibesoftball.com

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media

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More Vibe articles previously published on Line Drive Softball:

• Pro News: Top Gun Events Brings Professional Softball to Kansas City in June (Jan. 8, 2025)
• The Top 10 Softball Stories of 2024: #9… The State of the Pro Game (Dec. 24, 2024)
• Pro Softball: Florida Vibe Announces Significant Partnership With EvoShield (Dec. 5, 2024)
• Pro Softball: Florida Vibe Resigns Players, Adds New Talent (Sept. 22, 2024)
• Pro Softball: Florida Vibe Summer Schedule Kicks Off Friday Night (June 14, 2024)