Professional softball star Janae Jefferson (right) has been someone the Prairie View players have been able to turn to in her role as the Panthers’s graduate assistant coach. Credit: Aiden Pelphrey

Janae Jefferson will be the first to tell you how good softball has been to her and how her goal is to give back to the sport.

But the virtual “Rockstar” softball player wasn’t sure what that looked like. That was until Prairie View softball coach Vernon Bland, who was working as an assistant coach of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch squad, the Texas Smoke, this past summer, started getting in her ear about coaching.

While the former standout at Nimitz and the University of Texas still has plenty of playing aspirations, like making the 2028 U.S. Olympic Team, some of the conversations with Bland started to resonate.

It wasn’t long before Jefferson took Bland up on his offer and decided to become a graduate assistant coach for the Panthers. 

“We kind of built that relationship over time and one day at practice he was like, `Does anyone want to be a (graduate assistant coach)?’” Jefferson recalled in a recent conversation with the Defender. “I was like, ‘Yes,’ and it’s right down the street from me.”

Janae Jefferson is still focused on her professional softball career with the Texas Smoke, but during the offseason, she is preparing for coaching future while working as a graduate assistant with the Prairie View Panthers. Credit: Austin American Statesman

Next thing anyone knew, Jefferson enrolled in Prairie View to pursue her MBA last summer and began her coaching journey as a graduate assistant with the Panthers’ program. The softball star didn’t see this in her immediate future a year ago but is now all in.

She thoroughly embraces her time on an HBCU campus and working with student-athletes who are similar to her.

“It’s definitely an adjustment from the PWI that I came from,” Jefferson said. “I got to experience my first Homecoming and things like that at an HBCU. That was a lot of fun for me, being around people who look like me and everything. It was just an awesome experience.

“In coaching, I feel like I fit in with the coaching style of Coach Bland and Coach (Joeseph) Lane. I feel like it’s a perfect fit, it kind of worked out.”

Janae Jefferson (right) hopes to explore coaching full-time once her softball playing career is over. Credit: Aiden Pelphrey

Bland has certainly been impressed with what Jefferson has brought to his staff and the team since the fall.

“Janae is so humble. If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t know. You would have no clue who she is or what she has done in this game,” Bland said. “She has just come in and fit in with the coaching staff. We always laugh because she just came in and fit right in.”

Janae Jefferson has hopes of representing the US in the upcoming Olympic Games. Credit: USA Softball

But make no mistake, Jefferson is about as close to royalty as you will get in softball.

She had a stellar four years (2018-22) at UT, where she led the Longhorns, her senior year, to the 2022 Women’s College Series for the first time since 2013, and they finished as runners-up. The four-time All-American infielder finished her collegiate career as the program record-holder in batting average (.424), games started (269), runs (222), hits (362), and doubles (55).

Her success has continued at the Women’s Professional Fastpitch level, where in 2023, Jefferson earned the league’s Player of the Year distinction in her first season as a pro. The fourth overall pick in the 2022 Athletes Unlimited Softball College Draft hit .438 for Texas Smoke with a .523 slugging percentage and a .580 on-base percentage, helped the team to back-to-back WPF Championships and along the way took home the Championship Series MVP.

So, not only were the Prairie View players impressed to have a coach of Jefferson’s caliber leading them, but the adulation has been extended to opposing teams and their fans.

“Having someone like her around who has that softball IQ that we might not have or know, it’s really big,” said Prairie View senior centerfielder Ja’Naiya Thomas, who transferred in this year from the University of Houston.  “And literally, everywhere we go, people were talking about Janae Jefferson is going to be here and making posts about her and knowing that she is our coach is definitely one of the biggest flexes we can have.”

Hearing that she is considered a “big flex” brings a smile to Jefferson’s face.

I think one day I would want to be a head coach somewhere, take a team as far as softball can go. But I really enjoy coaching right now and just teaching others what I’ve learned throughout my career and what I’m still learning at this point.

Janae Jefferson

“I’m humbled hearing that,” she said. “I don’t really see myself as a major flex, but I guess other people see me in that light and see me as a role model, so it is very comforting. I like to hear it. I like the fact that I know I’m having an impact on the younger generation of softball and that they look up to me. It’s cool.”

Jefferson definitely appreciates the opportunity to work with the Panthers and is enjoying the connection with the players who aren’t too much younger than her.

“They be talking my head off,” the 26-year-old Jefferson said with a laugh. “They ask about how professional life is, how it was at UT, my career there and how I started in the game. I’m an open book for them. I want to share my story and see how far softball can take you. I’ve traveled all over the world playing this sport. It’s something that I really enjoy doing.

“I tell them to keep following your dreams and reaching for your goals and the sky is the limit.”

Bland has watched the connection between his players and Jefferson grow. Initially, Bland didn’t feel the players were taking enough advantage of Jefferson and her knowledge of the game, but he has seen a big change as the season has started.

Bland recalls recently Jefferson breaking down a play and how the players should react, and Bland saw how quickly they seemed to catch on from the professional.

“I was like, `Don’t act I didn’t tell y’all that before,’” Bland said with a laugh. “It was just different coming from her. She just brought a different aspect to it.”

That’s Jefferson’s long-term plan, too, as she looks to get into coaching full-time once her playing days are over. She wants to inspire young Black girls to pursue softball as a way of growing the sport.

This is her first step in that direction.

“It’s giving back to the sport, particularly giving back to those who look like me,” Jefferson said. “I didn’t really have someone that would necessarily come right out of college and coach me and give up their time pursuing their professional career. I think the biggest thing is giving back to the sport and growing the game and leaving it better than I found it.”

I've been with The Defender since August 2019. I'm a long-time sportswriter who has covered everything from college sports to the Texans and Rockets during my 16 years of living in the Houston market....