Kutztown University Athletics

Justus will begin his second season and third stint with Kutztown entering the 2025 season.

After four years up in the northeast, Don Justus returned to Kutztown as an assistant softball coach for the 2024 season. This will be his third stint with the Golden Bears, having served in the same role for 10 seasons under head coach Judy Lawes from 2010-19 and during the 2004-05 season.

Justus departed Kutztown following the 2019 season to become an assistant at then Division I Hartford University. He helped the Hawks to a 6-4 pandemic-shortened 2020 season and held the same role for the 2021 season before being named interim head coach in June.

In October 2021, Justus was named the new head coach at Division II University of New Haven. In two seasons at the helm of the Chargers, Justus posted a 34-53 record, with back-to-back 17-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, and led a trio of players to All-Northeast-10 Conference honors.

Working alongside Lawes, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division II history, Justus helped the Golden Bears win the 2013 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship, qualify for six NCAA tournaments and finish as national runners-up in 2013.

Justus was instrumental in developing the pitchers and outfielders, recruiting, coordinating camps and clinics, fundraising, and assisting with scheduling and travel during his first stint with the Maroon and Gold. He also held an advisory role with KU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which he will resume with his reappointment to the staff.

Kutztown totaled 339 victories with Justus on staff, including a school record 52 wins (52-7) in 2012, 40-win seasons in 2010 and 2011, and eight winning seasons overall. Kutztown advanced out of regional play to the NCAA Division II Championship in 2012 and 2013.

Justus, who spent the 2004-05 academic year as an assistant to Lawes at KU, returned to the Golden Bears following two seasons as an assistant at Division I Iona College in 2008 and 2009. He oversaw a pitching staff that featured 2009 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Year Sarah Jackson, who compiled a 1.62 earned run average.

Justus is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as a Three Star Master Coach, Connecticut High School Coaches Association, and the PONY Softball National Tournament Staff.

Justus earned a bachelor's degree in business sports management at Columbia Southern University in 1993.