Mark Watt, who guided Lincoln Southwest to 15 state tournaments and four state championships as its softball coach, and later served as a volunteer assistant at Nebraska, died today after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Watt was named head coach of Silver Hawks softball when the school opened in 2002, and in the first 20 years of the school and program, he made Southwest a state tournament regular. In addition to the four state championships (2008, 2009, 2018 and 2021), he took the Silver Hawks to three runner-up finishes. Watt arrived at Southwest after six years as Lincoln Southeast’s head softball coach. When he retired, Watt was the winningest high school softball coach with 579 wins, and was named the National Federation of State High School Associations Softball Coach of the Year in 2021-22. He was inducted into the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame in 2024.
After his tenure at Southwest, Watt served as a volunteer assistant coach for Nebraska in 2022, a part of the staff that guided NU to the Big Ten softball tournament championship
Watt is survived by his wife, Ann, and two daughters, Lindsay and Kelsey.