Heather Tarr enters her 20th season at the helm of the Washington softball program in 2023-24.
A native of Redmond, Wash., Tarr returned to the Huskies as the head coach in 2005 and has gone on to become the winningest coach of any sport in Washington history with a 788-298-1 record. Her .725 winning percentage is 10th most among active DI softball head coaches following the conclusion of the 2023 season. In addition, Washington has been ranked in the NFCA Coaches Poll for 230 consecutive weeks.
During her tenure, Tarr has coached 36 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 103 All-Conference, 89 All-Region, 10 Pac-12 Players of the Year (2005 Kristen Rivera - Player, 2009-2010 Danielle Lawrie - Pitcher, 2016 Taran Alvelo - Newcomer, 2011 Jenn Salling - Defensive, 2013 Shawna Wright - Defensive, 2018, 2019, 2021 Sis Bates - Defensive, 2021 Gabbie Plain - Pitcher, 2022 Baylee Klingler - Player) and a two-time USA Softball Player of the Year in Danielle Lawrie. Since Tarr has been head coach, the Huskies have earned at least one All-American award in 16 of the 18 seasons the award has been given out.
Eight times, most recently in 2023, the Huskies have made the Women’s College World Series, making it three straight years as well from 2017 to 2019. Washington has made a NCAA postseason in every season under Tarr and holds an 88-41 record in the tournament, including a 15-13 mark in the WCWS. Twice the Huskies have made it to the championship round: in 2009 and in 2018.
It took just three years for Tarr to bring the Huskies back to the World Series, making Super Regionals each of her first two years before breaking through in 2007 with a trip to Oklahoma City. Just five years after earning the head coaching job, Tarr brought Washington its first-ever national championship with a storied run to the 2009 WCWS title. Tarr and her staff were named the NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year following the 2009 season.
The next year, Tarr earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year after the Huskies finished with single-digit losses something the team has done three times under Tarr after doing so just twice in the 12 years before her tenure.
A Pac-12 Champion in 2010, Tarr added another conference championship trophy to her case in 2019, finishing the year 20-4 in Pac-12 play to lock up the title thanks in part to six series sweeps. It was just the second time ever that the Huskies had won 20 Pac-12 games: the last came in 1996 when they won a school-record 23 in a larger 28-game schedule.
A four-year letterwinner while a student at Washington, Tarr was a part of Washington’s first Women’s College World Series team, taking second in the nation in 1996. Tarr also helped the Huskies take third in the country in 1997 and was an undergraduate student assistant coach for Washington’s 1998 third-place team. In her playing career, Tarr made three Pac-12 All-Academic teams and three All-Pac-12 teams. She has been a part of 24 for 30 seasons of softball as either a player or coach.
Prior to returning to Montlake, Tarr served as an assistant coach at the University of the Pacific in California from 1999 to 2004 and was associate head coach in her final season with the Tigers. On staff, Pacific went 232-124 and 90-44 in the Big West Conference and made five NCAA Tournament trips in six years. In 2001, the staff was named the NFCA Pacific Region Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding the Tigers to a No. 18 final national ranking. Tarr also briefly played professional softball with the Tampa Bay FireStix of the Women’s Professional Softball League in 1997 and 1998.
Tarr also serves as the head coach of the US Women’s National Team that won the gold medal in 2022 at the World Games held in Birmingham, Ala. She will join Team USA this summer for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup Qualifiers held in Dublin, Ireland. Tarr served as an assistant coach with Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where the Eagles won a silver medal.
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RECORDS |
- 788 wins entering the 2024 season, most by any coach in any sport in UW history
- Eight Women's College World Series trips (2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)
- 2010 and 2019 Pac-12 Championships
- 2010 Pac-12 Coach of the Year
- 2009 NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year
- Little League International Hall of Excellence Inductee
- Five 50-win seasons
- 230 consecutive weeks ranked in the NFCA Coaches Poll
- 36 NFCA All-Americans
- 10 Pac-12 Players of the Year (2005 Kristen Rivera - Player, 2009-2010 Danielle Lawrie - Pitcher, 2016 Taran Alvelo - Newcomer, 2011 Jenn Salling - Defensive, 2013 Shawna Wright - Defensive , 2018, 2019, 2021 Sis Bates - Defensive, 2021 Gabbie Plain - Pitcher, 2022 Baylee Klingler - Player)
- 103 All-Pac-12 honorees
- 89 NFCA All-Region selections
- 101 Pac-12 All-Academic honorees
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NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY |
- 2009 National Champion
- 2018 National Runner-Up
- Eight Women's College World Series trips (2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)
- 15 Super Regionals trips
- 88-41 postseason record, 15-13 in the WCWS
- 13-time Regionals host
- 19 postseason trips (every season with postseason held)
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STORIES & FEATURES |
- Tarr Inducted Into Little League Hall Of Excellence - August 25, 2019
- Tarr Sets UW Win Record With 15-3 Triumph Over Saint Louis - February 9, 2018
- Heather Tarr Announced On USA National Team Coaching Staff - March 6, 2017
- Heather Tarr Earns 500th Career Win - March 10, 2017
- Q&A with Washington head coach Heather Tarr – September 30, 2013
- Heather Tarr: More than a head coach to the Huskies – Husky Fever (March 22, 2012)
- “Special” Tarr the perfect coach to uphold UW’s softball standard – gohuskies.com (June 1, 2011)
- Tarr Brings Washington Full Circle - ESPN.com (June 3, 2009)
- There's No Question: Tarr Was the Right Hire - Seattle Times (June 3, 2007)
- Let the Good Times Roll as UW Heads to World Series - Seattle Times (June 9, 2007)
- Heather Tarr Named Washington Softball Coach - gohuskies.com (July 6, 2004)
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