STEPHENVILLE, Texas - Tarleton State Softball has promoted Stefanie Phillips to Associate Head Coach, as recently announced by head coach Mark Cumpian.
When the 2026 softball season begins, Phillips will start her 13th year as a part of the Tarleton State Softball program. Phillips spent the last nine years as the top assistant coach under head coach Cumpian. Prior to this, she spent her first three seasons with the Texans as a second assistant under Julie Mata and Cumpian. She has coached pitchers, catchers, and slappers in all 12 years of her Tarleton State tenure and will begin her ninth season of also serving as the recruiting coordinator.
"I'm excited to promote Stefanie Phillips to Associate Head Coach," said Cumpian. "She has played a vital role in elevating our program to new heights and we would not be where we are today without her. I am thankful for her loyalty and dedication to Tarleton State Softball. I'm excited to continue to work alongside her and continue our commitment to excellence."
Phillips has been a great asset to the program, helping to guide the Texans in a 2025 record-setting season. In the first year of postseason eligibility, Phillips helped lead the Texans to their first WAC Championship title game as the Purple and White secured the No. 2 seed in the tournament following a Division I era program best second-place finish. This marks the third-straight year the Texans have made the conference tournament. The Texans ended their season with a Division I era record 36 wins, the most wins overall since 2019.
Individually, Phillips helped Shelby Schultz earn WAC Freshman of the Year, the first time at the Division I level a Texan has earned the honor. She also helped two student-athletes, Kalyn Hill and Shelby Schultz, to All-WAC First Team honors while Hannah Blincoe earned All-WAC Second Team honors. All three of these also earned WAC All-Tournament Team for their efforts in driving the Texans to the title game.
"I am beyond grateful to be named Associate Head Coach at Tarleton State," said Phillips. "This program means so much to me, and it has been an incredible privilege to be part of it for more than ten years. I'm excited to take on this new role and continue working alongside Mark Cumpian and our coaching staff to push our team to new levels of success."
Phillips was a key part of Tarleton State's transition to NCAA Division I in the spring of 2021 as the Texans won 17 games in their debut season with the Western Athletic Conference. Tarleton State's move to Division I was the penultimate chapter in a wild two-year span for Tarleton State softball. After making the decision to leave NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference in November 2019, the 2020 softball season was on the verge of becoming Tarleton State's best yet. The Texans boasted victories over the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and defending national champion Augustana and a doubleheader sweep of No. 2-ranked UT Tyler. Tarleton State was leading the Lone Star Conference standings with a 6-0 league mark when the season was abruptly canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Four months later, Tarleton State made the move to the WAC officially on July 1, 2020.
Before making the jump, Phillips was an integral part in making Tarleton State one of the elite programs in all of NCAA Division II.
Tarleton State has begun fall practices as they look towards the 2026 season. More information and schedules will be released at a later date.
