Donna Byars

Coach Byars led Bartow to a Final Four appearance in 2015 and a state championship in 2016. She was named FACA Coach of the Year and The Ledger Coach of the Year.

Since leaving the high school ranks, Coach Byars spent five seasons as the head coach at Polk State College. During her tenure at Polk State, Byars coached the Eagles to 51 wins. During the 2012 season, Polk State tripled its win total from the previous year with eight players earning All-Suncoast Conference honors.

Byars resigned after five years leading the Eagles to become an assistant coach at Southeastern University, an NAIA powerhouse in Lakeland.

She has been a head coach at Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, an assistant coach at Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake, and an assistant coach for Florida Gold.

A Bartow High School graduate, Byars played on the Lady Jackets softball team that won the school’s first state championship in 1997.

After playing four years of softball at Bartow High School, Byars attended Daytona State College on a softball scholarship and then transferred to the University of North Florida to play softball for two years. She earned All Region and All Conference team honors at UNF in 2003.

Byars graduated from UNF with a degree in health science and a minor in education.