While Nebraska softball fans may be focused on the team’s wins and losses, head coach Rhonda Revelle sees relationship building as the key to the program’s success.
“Trying to be authentic; it’s like I want to lead with love, and I want to walk in truth,” Revelle told Hurrdat Sports Live Tuesday morning. “I want to do that as a human being, but I also want to do that as a coach, and as a leader.”
In 2019, Nebraska put Revelle on paid leave after a group of players brought forth complaints claiming emotional abuse and a toxic culture. Revelle was then reinstated for the 2020 season.
“I really made a commitment to myself from that moment on when I came back in 2019 that I was going to intentionally make this the rest of my journey,” Revelle said. “Eighty percent about people and the relationships, and not just the players, but it could be the person that cleans our building, and 20% about the competition and the game.”
The former Husker player has been Nebraska’s head coach since 1993. Revelle said she learned her coaching philosophy from legendary former Nebraska football head coach Tom Osborne.
“He was like our guiding light, and I would have been a fool not to listen to everything he said, because to me he was the gold standard of coaching and being a wonderful human being, a man of faith,” Revelle said. “So, I just really leaned into what he did, and I think he just really created a model that a lot of times in college athletics today, people might say would that work in today’s world?
“I think it absolutely would, because at the end of the day you still win with people first. The way that Coach Osborne treated all the people was so immaculate that I’ve kind of wanted to see if I could just at least hold a candle to that.”
In 2026, Revelle has guided No. 3 Nebraska to a 40-6 record and first place the Big Ten conference. The Huskers are 20-1 in league play and have won 15 consecutive games.
This success, along with her history in Lincoln have cemented Revelle’s name into Nebraska sports lore forever.
On Saturday, athletic director Troy Dannen announced that Nebraska had renamed the softball field at Bowlin Stadium to Rhonda Revelle Field.
“The only way I can describe that is I had not zero idea, but subzero [idea],” Revelle said of her reaction to the announcement. “It’s very humbling, but we’ve got work to do, so that needs to be our focus.”
After falling to Tennessee in the Super Regionals in 2025, Nebraska added to its roster ahead of the 2026 season.
It picked up senior center fielder Hannah Coor and junior catcher Jesse Farrell, who have connections to Nebraska players. Revelle said she believes this chemistry has helped the team succeed this season.
“All of our work in the portal has been really intentional, and we’ve been very fortunate, because we wanted to not only protect the culture, but to continue to build it.” Revelle said. “You win with people, and if we’re going to make this thing about relationships, we have to make it about relationships at every turn.
“Every person from the portal that we have brought into our program we’ve had connections and reference checks.”
Another reason for Nebraska’s dominance is freshman two-way player Alexis Jensen. The left-handed pitcher is 18-2 in the circle with 19 starts and 27 appearances.
The Gretna, Neb., native has earned a 2.57 ERA, with 174 strikeouts and 28 walks. Jensen is tied for sixth in the country in strikeouts per seven innings (10.2) and sits in sixth in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.21).
Offensively, she’s hitting .333 at the plate, with four doubles and five home runs. Named the national freshman of week three times, Big Ten freshman of the week once, and Big Ten pitcher of the week once, Jensen has 15 RBIs and a .621 slugging percentage.
“She is her own person, and that’s one of the things that we really value about her,” Revelle said. “I’m going to take you back to the Peaches James era. I kept saying nobody in the country knows Peaches James yet, and I knew that by the middle of her freshman year they would. I have felt the exact same thing about (Jensen).”
Although much of Nebraska’s achievements have come under the watch of Revelle, she always makes sure to keep the attention on her athletes and Husker fans.
“The idea of winning for me is I love this team so much that I want them to be able to stay together for as long as possible, because I can tell that they really enjoy being around one another,” Revelle said. “You want it to last for as long as it can for them.
“Our fans have been so incredible that I want it to last as long as it can for them. So, it’s really zero about me.”
Nebraska travels to University Park to face Penn State in a three-game series starting Friday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
