Carley Davis was getting ready for her final season of college softball last January, but bigger things were on her mind. She was thinking about life after her collegiate experience at Elon University. She was looking to become a graduate assistant coach and was exploring different opportunities at schools across North Carolina. She had been discussing her plans with Elon head coach Kathy Bocock throughout the entire process, and when the opportunity to stay at Elon after her final season presented itself, the choice was obvious.
Months later, current senior McKenna McCard received a message about a Zoom meeting to introduce the team’s new assistant coach. Throughout Davis’ process, McCard had talked to her and heard about some of the schools she was considering but Davis had kept a lot to herself. Still, before the Zoom, McCard wondered whether Davis would be the one to hop onto the Zoom because she hadn’t heard anything about where Davis ended up. Soon after, Davis joined the Zoom and surprised the team.
Davis spent five years at Elon and finished as the program’s all-time Division I leader in runners caught stealing. She was a two-time All-CAA Second Team selection and hit a career-best .312 and 24 RBIs in her final season in 2024.
“Coming back to get my first coaching experience under the head coach who provided a foundation for me as a player and as a person, it was an easy decision to say yes for that,” Davis said. “Also coaching 19 of my former teammates, I thought would be a cool experience and a fun experience, but also a challenging one.”
As an assistant coach, Davis is primarily working with the pitching staff, assisting with pitch calling and analyzing hitters. As a former catcher, she had already developed strong working relationships with many of the team’s pitchers. Watching their growth over four years has been rewarding for her, both as a player and now as a coach.Davis, who got her undergraduate degree in psychology, has been applying her studies in her coaching role. She aims to instill a strong mental presence in all of the players, and believes that her connection to the team strengthens her effectiveness.
“Being so young and coming straight from being a player, I feel as if I'm relatable with the players and know what they're going through and what they're thinking at times,” Davis said.
The transition into coaching wasn’t as difficult as Davis expected. Having been a team captain, she had already built strong communication with both the coaching staff and players. Bocock said the transition was seamless.
“She knows how things run around here, like laundry, how we do our building. So sometimes I get ready to say something, and she'll say something, and I'm like, she already knew I was going to say it just because she's been playing for me for five years,” Bocock said.
Setting up boundaries between Davis and her former teammates was the hardest part of the transition, though. Bocock said that was something that the two of them had talked about before finalizing the hire.
“Her biggest concern was the challenge of the boundaries, and I said, ‘Well, it could be that way anywhere you go because she's going to be that same age with other players and growing and just understanding,’” Bocock said. “I have so much trust for my team here and Carly and everybody, that that was the least of my worries because I knew our team would give Carly that respect, because they played with her.”
Bocock emphasized that the boundaries between a coach and a player are important, but it doesn’t have to prevent relationships from continuing. It’s still OK for the players to go to the movies or go out to eat with Davis because those relationships are important for the team, Bocock said. McCard said the transition felt natural because Davis had always been a guiding presence for the team.. She said it hasn’t felt all that different from what Davis did as a player.
“Carly has always been someone that has always been there for us to talk to, and she's always helped give the team direction,” McCard said. “So seeing her change into this now coaching role is just a continuation of what she was for the team, but in a more official way.”
McCard said it is helpful having someone on the coaching staff who understands the players so well. Davis agrees that her relationships with the players has only strengthened her ability to coach them effectively.
“As a player, you get to know your teammates on a personal level and know their families, or where they're from, or what they want to do with their lives, and knowing those background characteristics, it helps you understand who you're meeting with in that moment,” Davis said. “Because they're in this moment because of all the things that have happened in their past, and they've grown into this person.”
Davis is excited about her future with the program and is particularly eager to strengthen the mental approach of the pitchers.
“I want all of them to believe in themselves as a player and a person and to develop mental skills that will carry on throughout their next grad program, or if they go straight into their job that they believe in themselves and know what they're capable of and continue to grow throughout it,” Davis said.