J.D. McCurdy enters his eighth season at the helm of the EMU softball program in 2011. He has completed a historic turn-around of the program since his arrival, pushing the Lady Royals from their first winning season in 13 years in just his second season, to winning the ODAC Tournament in 2010. McCurdy has been named ODAC Coach of the Year twice in seven years and steered the women to their first NCAA Tournament ever.

In the season before he arrived, the Lady Royals went 5-20. In his first year in 2004, McCurdy guided EMU to an 11-22 record and followed that in 2005 with a 17-14 mark. It was the team's first winning record since 1992. In 2006, the Lady Royals improved further, breaking 18 program records, and picking up the team's first ODAC Tournament win since 1992. McCurdy was also named the 2007 ODAC Co-Coach of the Year. After making an improbable run as the seventh seed to the 2009 ODAC Championship game, Eastern Mennonite became the first ever No. 8 seed to win an ODAC title, sweeping to the crown in 2010. He again earned Coach of the Year honors.

McCurdy played collegiate baseball at Bridgewater College as both a pitcher and first baseman. He also played two years in the Valley Baseball League and 13 years in the Rockingham County Baseball League. He graduated from BC with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education.

McCurdy began coaching softball at Turner Ashby High School as the assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach in 1998-99, guiding the Knights to a 36-3 JV record. He took over the varsity head coaching position in 2000 and began a run of four consecutive Valley District Titles. He won Valley District Coach of the Year all four years, accumulated a 90-6-1 overall record, and took his 2000 squad to the state championship game. In the fall of 2010, McCurdy was also inducted in the Turner Ashby High School Hall of Fame.

He enjoys watching student-athletes develop and grow. McCurdy tells his players to "Practice with the same intensity that you play with on game day."

He is the long-time owner of J.D. McCurdy Insurance Agency, Inc. in Bridgewater. He lives in Bridgewater with wife Diane and has three daughters: Arin, Jody, and Brittany.

Branson enters her fifth season as an assistant coach under McCurdy. In her first season as an assistant, she helped to lead the Lady Royals to the most wins in the program's history with the team finishing fifth in the conference.

Branson is a graduate of Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater, Va.

Danny Conley enters his first season as an assistant at Eastern Mennonite.

He has many years of softball experience, as both a player and coach, and was most recently an assistant at Bridgewater College for six years.  Conley played competitive softball for 25 years, and his team won ten Rockingham County Championships, six District Championships, four Regional Championships and one Virginia State Championship.

Conley has coached two years with the Montezuma Braves in the Rockingham County Baseball League, and has coaching experience and many levels of softball, baseball, football and girls basketball.