Seattle Reign FC Legend: Heather Tarr – University of Washington Softball Coach
The Legends Campaign, a partnership between Seattle Reign FC and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Prior to Seattle Reign FC’s final home match against the Houston Dash on October 18, the club recognized Coach Heather Tarr.
Coach Heather Tarr, University of Washington Softball and US Women’s National Team Head Coach, has coached softball at UW for 21 seasons and is the winningest coach of any sport in Washington history. The 2010 Pac-12 Coach of the Year has led the team to an NCAA postseason appearance each year of her tenure, twice leading the team to championship round, in 2009 and in 2018.
A lifelong athlete, born and raised in Washington, Tarr grew up playing many sports, including soccer and softball. She was a four-year letterwinner on the softball team as a student at UW before becoming an undergraduate student assistant coach. She coached at University of the Pacific from 1999 to 2004 before returning to Seattle.
“I worked really hard to be someone in life that people trusted and could count on. I learned that through my parents and my upbringing. Playing softball in college, I learned a lot of things about being someone that can perform on a team and be part of a team and then I applied those lessons as I grew into a coach, which I got to do that right away.”
After starting her coaching career as a student assistant and then coaching for six years with the University of the Pacific, there was an opening at the University of Washington. A lot of the former players came together to decide who should step up to the role and in the end, Tarr was selected.
“I felt like people were pointing at me and to be honest, I was kind of pointing at me, but I felt too young for the role. Fortunately for me, the people that were on the search committee, one being Coach Lesle Gallimore, thought that I could actually do this job, so I became the head coach for Washington at 29.”
During her tenure at Washington, Tarr has coached 37 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 109 All-Conference, 94 All-Region, 10 Pac-12 Players of the Year and a two-time USA Softball Player of the Year in Danielle Lawrie. She has also led the team to a NCAA postseason in every season she has coached.
“The highlight reel of my career is probably founded in getting this job and also getting our program to the place where people know it. We’re in the top left corner of the United States, so there have been times where media has forgotten about us a little bit. We want to be sure that when someone says Washington, they don’t think of Washington, D.C. They think of Seattle, of UW – those are wins for me.”
On the international stage, Head Coach Tarr and Team USA won the gold medal in 2022 at the World Games, silver medal at the WBSC Softball World Cup and silver at the 2020 Olympic Games, where she served as an assistant coach.
“My inspiration is doing things that haven't been done before and doing things better than they've ever been done. I can't even fathom that I'm even in the legend category, but it feels good to know that it's kind of like a group of women recognizing another woman in their field. I have a lot of pride in where I grew up, literally playing in Lake Washington Youth Soccer, so I never thought that the women's professional soccer team in Washington would recognize me for anything. It’s a little bit overwhelming but I couldn’t be happier.”