Knoxville’s professional softball team now has a name and two familiar faces on its coaching staff.
The team, which announced on June 10 that it will be known as the Knoxville Miracle, will be coached by former Tennessee softball assistants Craig Snider and Stephanie Sanders when it begins playing in the Professional Softball League in 2027. Snider will be the head coach and Sanders will be an assistant.
“We could not be more grateful to be a part of this,” Snider said. “Humbled and honored to be the head coach of the Knoxville Miracle.”
Snider and Sanders spent two years at Tennessee, with Snider as hitting coach and Sanders as an assistant working with defense and catchers. Prior to working with the Lady Vols, Snider was the head coach at Texas Tech for two seasons. Sanders was not actively coaching when she was hired but had previously been a Division I assistant and played at Michigan State.
The two coaches, who married in 2024, were not retained on coach Karen Weekly’s staff after this season after a mutual decision. Now they’ll lead the Miracle, Knoxville’s first professional softball team.
“We’re really excited to be the heads of the Miracle pro softball team and really believe in what it’s going to do for the Knoxville community,” Sanders said.
The PSL, which beings its inaugural season on June 12, announced on April 6 that it was expanding to Knoxville for the 2027 season. The decision to move to Knoxville was motivated in part by the city’s support for the Lady Vols softball team, which has made 10 appearances in the Women’s College World Series — all under Weekly — and advanced to the semifinals in three of the past four years.
“The groundwork laid by Karen Weekly, Ralph Weekly, the University of Tennessee and the entire Lady Vols softball program deserves tremendous recognition,” said Eugene Miracle, the Miracle’s general manager and the founder and CEO of 108 Performance. “They helped create and build one of the premier softball communities in the entire nation.”
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
