Lexy Determan took over as head coach at Grinnell College in 2022 and enjoyed immediate success, guiding the Pioneers to a 12-4 mark in Midwest Conference play and spot in the league's postseason tournament. She and assistant Dalton Meredith went on to be named MWC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2022.
Determan had been head coach at Waldorf College, an NAIA school in Forest City, Iowa, since the fall of 2015 where she helped rebuild the program. Determan won 70 games in her time there and last season the Warriors advanced to the semifinals of the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Tournament. Additionally, Determan served as a professor of Sports Psychology and Concepts of Wellness at Waldorf.
Prior to her stint at Waldorf, Determan was head coach at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., winning 28 games over two years. In 2015, she was named St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Coach of the Year while leading the Highlanders to their first conference tourney appearance in 16 years.
Determan served as an assistant coach at Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant from 2011 to 2013. Working with the team’s pitchers, including a first-team All-American who recorded a 1.04 ERA, Determan helped the Tigers to a fourth-place finish at the United States College Athletic Association (USCAA) National Tournament in 2013.
She also has coaching experience at two Iowa high schools, Danville and Okoboji, and helped the latter to a state tournament berth in 2009.
Determan, an all-state pitcher in high school, continued her collegiate career at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. In 2008, she was named Great Plans Athletic Conference (GPAC) Pitcher of the Year while setting a school single-season strikeout record and compiling a 21-11 record and 1.98 ERA.
After Northwestern’s coach left, Determan transferred to Wartburg College and earned All-Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) honors while going 19-2 with a 1.02 ERA and also boasting a .315 batting average.
Determan saved her best for last, pitching two years at Luther College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2011. She guided the Norse to Iowa Conference Tournament and Great Lakes Regional Tournament titles in 2010 and 2011. The team took fifth at the 2010 NCAA Division III National Tournament and seventh the next year.
As a senior, Determan earned second-team All-America honors and established Luther records for wins and strikeouts in a season. She was 25-4 that year with a 1.15 ERA, 230 strikeouts and a .187 opponent batting average.
In March 2015, Determan earned a master’s degree in sport psychology from Capella University. She and her husband, Jens, have a daughter, Kora.
