AUBURN — Auburn athletics director John Cohen knew exactly how to describe Chris Malveaux.

"Kind of stoic," Cohen recalled telling Auburn president Chris Roberts when the latter asked about one of Auburn softball's new co-head coaches. "He's like a scientist-type guy, one of the best hitting guys in the country. Very, very thoughtful and intellectual and can really, really teach the game."

What about the other half of the coaching tandem, Kate Malveaux?

"I thought about it and I thought about it," Cohen said. "(And I said), 'She's got some Bruce Pearl in her.' ... She's never met a stranger, she can really recruit and in every opportunity she has individually with fans, with recruits, with the person walking down the street, she makes the most of it. Really incredible communication skills."

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Chris and Kate were formally introduced Tuesday morning at the Woltosz Center. Pearl was in attendance, as was baseball coach Butch Thompson and track and field coach Leroy Burrell, among other prominent figures in Auburn athletics.

Cohen's comparison to Pearl was evident when Kate first spoke into the microphone; her voice was raspy, and her personality was evident: "Sorry, you'll hear me," Kate said. "I talk a lot, so this voice isn't going away."

Having two head coaches is unique to Auburn softball, but it isn't unique to the SEC. At Tennessee, where Chris and Kate have been assistants for the last three seasons, Ralph and Karen Weekly led the program together from 2002-2021.

"I think the reason why this is going to work really well − Chris hit on it − what he is (good at) may not be my strength (and) my strengths may not be his," Kate said. "Every head coach is going to have flaws, every single one of them. You don't have those flaws (here), because you get both. I think that's what makes us really unique. We'll divide the duties, but we're going to make sure that he can be in the cages to help run this offense."

Chris and Kate met with the team via Zoom when their hires were made official June 6. They went out for ice cream at Toomer's Corner a couple days later with those still in town, and discussions have begun about what the standards will be moving forward.

The expectation is that all of the current players will remain on the roster, Chris said. There's been an emphasis placed on acquiring transfer pitchers, especially with star Maddie Penta running out of eligibility this past season, but Chris and Kate don't plan on running off players who want to stick around.

"We've got to make a jump," Chris said. "We've got to climb the ranks, sooner than later. Everyone that is still here, we're planning on them coming back. We are involved in the portal, (but) only for certain people that have been proven or we know, man, if they can put this and this together, they're going to help us make that jump, sooner than later. ...

"We feel like the players that are here have been all about it. They're excited, they want to take a step forward. They want to work, they want to win, they want to be competitive. That's our goal. At the end of the day if you totally cut a roster, you don't know if you're cutting the right or wrong people. If they want that, and they want to get in and go, then let's go."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn softball: Coaches Chris and Kate Malveaux on roster, portal