TOWSON, Md. – When Lisa Costello arrived at Towson University in Fall 1993 as an assistant softball coach, she did not expect to be on campus more than three decades later. Today, she announced her retirement after 33 seasons, the last 31 as the Tigers head coach, effective July 8.

The Tigers concluded the 2026 season on Saturday afternoon with a victory over the College of Charleston. Costello finished her career with a record of 857-773-3. The victory total ranked 25^th on the active list of collegiate softball coaches. Towson won at least 20 games 26 times under Costello with 10 30-win seasons, including a school-record 42-win campaign in 2018.

"Lisa has been a staple of Tiger Athletics for parts of four decades, an unrivaled showing of dedication and commitment to this program," Towson University Vice President of Athletics Steve Eigenbrot said. "She's watched this campus, our department and her program evolve tremendously in her tenure and done so with unwavering Towson pride. It is hard to put her impact on this program into words, but this department and I are extremely grateful for all that she has done and she will be missed."

Costello became the Tigers' head coach in 1996 after serving as an assistant coach to Elayne "Otts" Lucas for two seasons.

"I was the youngest head coach in the nation at 26 years old. I was going to stay for a few years, get some experience and move on to a bigger program, but throughout time, Towson became that program that I would have moved on to," Costello said. "I am now 1,000 times different than the person that was hired in 1996. I spent the first part of my career trying to prove to everyone that I wasn't too young to do this and spent the last part of my career trying to prove to everyone I wasn't too old to do this."

Costello guided the Tigers to seven runner-up finishes in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA)  and two more while the program was in the America East Conference.

From 1999-2006, Towson won 30 games for eight straight seasons, compiling a 272-198 record, a 58 percent winning percentage. In 2005, she was honored as the CAA Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to a 38-19 record, setting a then school record for wins in a season. From 2014-16, Towson advanced to the CAA Championship game twice in three years.

"We started to play better and I never stopped learning," Costello added. "The framework of the program was finding blue collar kids. All these kids had something that caused others to look past them. We used that chip on the shoulder mindset to win games."

In 2018, Towson won a program record 42 victories and participated in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC), the first postseason appearance in school history. The Tigers defeated Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky in the tournament.

"Things just came together that season," Costello added. "We stayed healthy and the kids played to their potential."

The 2023 season saw the Tigers make a return trip to the CAA Championship game. Seeded fifth, Towson won four straight games to reach the title game and took a 4-3 lead into the seventh (and final) inning. Towson ended the season with 30 victories, the only CAA team to reach the milestone.  

Costello coached four Towson University Athletics Hall of Famers - Jen Weaver, Courtney McClelland, Lisa Pollock and Mindy Bean. Julia Smith-Harrington was a finalist for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award, given to the NCAA Division I senior student-athletes who excel in four areas: community, classroom, character, and competition.

A native of Vineland, N.J., Costello played three years of college softball at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) after spending her freshman season at the University of Iowa.

The Towson Athletics department has formalized a search committee and will conduct a nationwide search for its next head coach. In the coming weeks, Towson will conduct several engagements with alumni, supporters and current student-athletes to inform this process – more information to follow.