Marquette, Mi – August 18th, 2026- This week on the Big Local Sports Show, we were joined by Kyle Johnson, head coach of the Northern Michigan University club softball team, and Steve Anderson, an assistant coach for the program. If you don’t know much about club sports, or how they differ from traditional varsity athletics, you’ll definitely want to take a listen to this week’s show.
We kicked things off with Kyle Johnson, who gave us an inside look at the world of club softball. We discussed the differences between club and varsity sports, how Johnson got involved with the program, and how Northern Michigan’s club softball team made history with its national run which included a appearance at the NCSA division two world series were they came in second to Wake Forest.
Johnson also shared plenty of behind-the-scenes stories, including the planning, preparation and work that went into helping the team reach new heights at Northern Michigan. We also dove into Johnson and Anderson’s high school coaching backgrounds and how the two helped start the Negaunee Miners softball program which has experienced tremendous success over the past several years.
We closed out the show with Steve Anderson putting the spotlight on pitching. Anderson explained the role of a pitching coach at the club level, how roster spots are determined each fall, and the process of building a pitching staff. He also talked about the incredible group of pitchers he was fortunate to work with this season. Anderson gave us a fun behind-the-scenes look at the art of calling pitches, while also sharing the story of his journey into coaching and what led him to become a pitching coach.
Click this link to find the show!
Coming Up Next Week
Next week we’ll be joined by Northern Michigan women’s basketball all-time leading scorer Makaylee Kuhn. We’ll look back at Kuhn’s career at NMU, including why she chose that program and some of her favorite memories from her time in Marquette. We’ll touch on her new role as the head coach of the Ishpeming Girls Varsity basketball program and what she’s looking forward to as she begins the next chapter of her coaching career. We’ll also talk about Rise UP Basketball and the work Kuhn is doing through that program.
Future programming note: Beginning next week we’ll be moving our start time back to 11:00 a.m. The Big Local Sports Show will be live from Slabz Bar and Grill next Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. You can listen live on Fox Sports Marquette 105.1 and 99.9, watch the show streamed live on the mediaBrew Communications Facebook page, or catch the replay at 6:00 p.m. on 97.5 GTO.
