Staff Directory
Tarr, Heather
Heather Tarr
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- Phone:
- (206) 543-3785
| Coaching Record | ||||
| Year | Overall Record |
Conference (Finish) | Postseason | |
| 2005 | 35-22 | 10-11 (6th) | Super Regional | |
| 2006 | 35-25 | 6-15 (7th) | Super Regional | |
| 2007 | 42-19 | 12-9 (3rd) | WCWS (Tied Seventh) | |
| 2008 | 30-25-1 | 7-14 (5th) | Regional Participant | |
| 2009 | 51-12 | 14-7 (2rd) | National Champion | |
| 2010 | 50-9 | 17-4 (1st) | WCWS (Tied Seventh) | |
| 2011 | 27-16 | 9-12 (6th) | Super Regional | |
| 2012 | 39-19 | 7-16 (8th) | Super Regional | |
| 2013 | 45-17 | 12-5 (2nd) | WCWS (Tied Third) | |
| 2014 | 39-20 | 13-9 (4th) | Super Regional | |
| 2015 | 42-17 | 11-11 (6th) | Regional Participant | |
| 2016 | 39-15 | 16-8 (3rd) | Super Regional | |
| 2017 | 50-14 | 16-8 (3rd) | WCWS (Tied Third) | |
| 2018 | 52-10 | 15-8 (4th) | National Runner-Up | |
| 2019 | 52-10 | 20-4 (1st) | WCWS (Tied Third) | |
| 2020 | 23-2 | --- | No postseason due to COVID-19 | |
| 2021 | 45-14 | 18-5 (2nd) | Super Regional | |
| 2022 | 38-17 | 14-10 (4th) | Regional Final | |
| 2023 | 44-15 | 16-8 (2nd) | WCWS (Tied Fifth) | |
| 2024 | 32-15 | 13-10 (4th) | Regional Participant | |
| 2025 | 35-19 | 12-9 (7th) | Regional Participant | |
| at UW | 855-332-1 | 258-183 Conference | |||
| Career | Same | |||
A native of Redmond, Washington, 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 an 855-332-1 record. Her .720 winning percentage is 11th most among active DI softball head coaches following the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Tarr is one of five coaches/student-athletes to have played and coached in the Women's College World Series. She is the first Division I softball coach to guide a team to a National Championship at her alma mater.
During her tenure, Tarr has coached 37 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 110 All-Conference, 98 All-Region, 11 Conference Players of the Year (2005 Kristen Rivera - Player; 2009-10 Danielle Lawrie - Pitcher; 2016 Taran Alvelo - Newcomer; 2011 Jenn Salling - Defensive; 2013 Shawna Wright - Defensive; 2018-19, 2021 Sis Bates - Defensive; 2021 Gabbie Plain - Pitcher; 2022 Baylee Klingler - Player; 2025 Alexis DeBoer - Freshman) 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-America award in 17 of the 20 seasons the award has been given out.
Eight times, most recently in 2023, the Huskies have made the Women’s College World Series, including three straight seasons from 2017 to 2019. Washington has made a NCAA postseason in every season under Tarr and holds an 90-45 record in the tournament, including a 15-13 mark in the WCWS. Washington is tied with Oklahoma for the longest postseason streak in the nation at 31 seasons. 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 a Super Regional 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 25 of 31 seasons as either a player or coach at UW.
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 served 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, Alabama. In 2024, Tarr and Team USA brought home the silver medal at the WBSC Softball World Cup that was held in Italy. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Tarr served as an assistant coach with Team USA where the Eagles won a silver medal.
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