Vanessa Lenoir ’94, ’19 MA returned to the William Paterson softball program as an assistant coach in January 2025.
She arrives back at WP after spending the past nine seasons as an assistant coach at Passaic Valley High School, working alongside current WP head coach, Kathy Hill. While at Passaic Valley, Lenoir helped guide the Hornets to an overall record of 126-57 and a 58-24 mark in Big North - Independence action while coaching over 40 all-Passaic County and all-conference performers.
Before Passaic Valley, she was a key member of the coaching staff at WP from 1998-2015. During her time with the Pioneers, WP compiled a 515-229-4 overall record with four New Jersey Athletic Conference titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2009) and two NCAA Tournament Eastern Regional titles that resulted in a pair of trips to the NCAA Division III Softball World Series (2001, 2005). She was a member of the 2005 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Coaching Staff of the Year.
Lenoir was a key cog on four NCAA Tournament teams as a softball student-athlete at WP from 1990-93. She was a three-time all-New Jersey Athletic Conference (1990, 1992-93) and two-time all-Atlantic Region (1990, 1992) selection. She etched her name into the program annals in career home runs (10, tied-seventh all-time) while helping William Paterson produce 112 victories.
Also an assistant director of registration services at the University, she earned a bachelor’s in exercise and movement science from William Paterson in 1994 before acquiring her master’s in higher education administration and leadership studies in 2019.