Mackenzie Puckett - Softball Coach - Troy University Athletics

Mackenzie Puckett

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
puckettm@troy.edu
Phone:
3969

Mackenzie Puckett enters her third season as an assistant coach for the 2027 season.

Under Puckett, the Trojans went 32-22 overall and 10-14 in Sun Belt Conference play in 2026, earning the No. 9 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament. She helped Troy record 101 stolen bases, marking just the fourth time in program history the team reached triple digits – Troy led the conference and ranked 23rd nationally in total stolen bases. Troy led the conference and ranked 17th nationally with 1.87 stolen bases per game. Puckett coached Ella Cunningham and Megan Loftis to All-Sun Belt Second Team honors, while Makaley Boswell and Mia Tidmore earned All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention recognition. Boswell (17) and Kiley Huffman (16) finished first and third, respectively, in the conference in doubles.

In her first season, Puckett boosted the Trojans to a 33-24, 12-12 SBC record, where they finished as the No. 8 seed. She helped Troy win its first series over Louisiana in program history and a Power-4 victory over Wisconsin. With Puckett entering the scene, Troy shattered its program record for sac flies (21) and slugging percentage (.506) with five players at eight or more homers. The Trojans also had their most total bases (738) since 1999. Under Puckett, Taylor McKinney polished her career off on the All-Sun Belt First Team, while Alyssa Faircloth (SBC leader in strikeouts per seven innings) and McKinnon Howard (single-season record holder for batting average – .439) earned second team.

Puckett, a three-year letterwinner at Georgia and representative for softball on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, joins the Troy program following 80 games played at UGA with 44 starts. She batted .230 in her tenure with 18 runs, 34 hits, seven doubles and eight homers while posting a .439 slugging percentage.

Troy marks the beginning of Puckett’s coaching career after spending the last nine months as a graduate student manager for the Bulldogs. She helped the team to a 43-19, 12-12 SEC record in her lone season, where the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Super Regional before falling to No. 6 UCLA.

Together, the Bulldogs accumulated major series victories over No. 18/21 Auburn, No. 24/21 Texas A&M, No. 16/16 Kentucky and No. 8/9 Arkansas. Georgia also finished nationally ranked in all four major polls for the 14^th time in program history, topping off in 13^th for Softball America and ESPN.com/USA Softball.

2024 also saw Sydney Kuma earn the Rawlings Gold Glove Award after leading the program to a .976 fielding percentage – highest since the Bulldogs broke the program record in 2008 at .981. Meanwhile, outfielder Jayda Kearney was recognized as a First Team All-American by D1Softball and ranked No. 52 in Softball America’s Top 100 Player Rankings – joined by Sara Mosley (46).

Before transferring to Georgia, Puckett spent two years at Florida State and was a member of the Seminoles’ first NCAA National Championship in 2018. She went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in drawing walks for a 1.000 on-base percentage. She kept that plate vision into her sophomore season with six consecutive walks at the plate from 2018-19, which ranked 16th in NCAA history.

She went to Georgia in 2020 and showed her power with three homers and drove in 16 runs through 22 appearances. The Cairo High School graduate enacted the run rule twice with a three-run homer against UNCW and a grand slam against Samford. 2021 saw her open the season on a six-game hitting streak and finish with three homers, four doubles and eight runs. Puckett made 25 appearances in her final season to finish with a .268 clip on 11 hits and six runs.