Tennessee softball assistant coaches Craig Snider and Stephanie Sanders will not be retained on coach Karen Weekly’s staff, a source confirmed to Knox News on June 8.
It was a mutual decision, according to the source, who requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.
Snider was the coach at Texas Tech the previous two seasons before joining Tennessee’s staff as the hitting coach. Sanders, who worked with defense and catchers, was not an active college coach at the time of her hiring, but had previously coached at Penn State, Miami (Ohio) and Villanova after playing at Michigan State.
Weekly originally hired the couple to fill the vacancies left by Chris and Kate Malveaux, who were hired as co-head coaches at Auburn after the 2024 season. Snider and Sanders were engaged at the time of their hiring and got married shortly after.
Snider made a base salary of $170,000, according to the UTK database, and Sanders had a base salary of $70,000.
The Lady Vols ranked No. 12 in the SEC this season in team batting average (.281) – which was worse than 2025, when they were No. 11 at .301 – No. 9 in home runs (76), No. 10 in slugging percentage (.496), No. 10 in runs scored (322), No. 11 in on-base percentage (.385) and had the seventh-most strikeouts (249) in the league.
Tennessee’s offense has been its downfall in the Women’s College World Series the last two seasons, when it made back-to-back runs to the WCWS semifinals. The Lady Vols finished the 2026 season 49-12 and 16-8 in the SEC, which was tied for fourth place.
Snider went 60-43 in his two seasons with the Red Raiders and posted a 13-29 mark in Big 12 play. He spent the three years prior as a hitting coach at Texas A&M along with eight years at Florida State. He was on the FSU staff that led the Seminoles to the 2018 national championship.
Snider’s career also included stops at Stephen F. Austin, one season at Oklahoma as a graduate assistant, Centenary and Lindsey Wilson College.
Sanders spent the 2021-22 seasons with the Nittany Lions as the recruiting coordinator along with coaching the outfielders and catchers. Between working at Penn State and with Tennessee, Sanders the director of softball training at Knocksville Lubbock.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
