Head Coach Mark Cumpain

Mark Cumpian has been an instant success since taking over the Tarleton Softball program in 2017. The head coach will begin his third year at the helm when the 2019 softball season begins.

 
 “Mark is one of the hardest working young coaches I have ever seen,” said Tarleton Athletic Director Lonn Reisman. “He has taken great pride in everything he’s done as an assistant coach for six years and he’s been fortunate enough to learn from a great softball coach, Julie Mata. I have no doubt that Mark will do a great job of continuing our tradition of excellence that our softball program has built.”
 
In his first season at the helm, Cumpian made Tarleton history by becoming the first rookie head coach in any Tarleton sport to qualify for the NCAA postseason in his first year as head coach. His TexAnns won 35 in the debut season and earned the No. 7 seed in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament.
 
He totaled four All-LSC selections in his first year as head coach, including first-team catcher Nyka Wood, to go along with an Academic All-LSC selection and a LSC Gold Glove award winner.
 
He followed up with a sophomore coaching campaign that is among the all-time best seasons in the history of the program.
 
Cumpian led Tarleton to a program-best 50 wins and back to the South Central Region Finals for the second time in school history. He had three players named to All-America teams, including the school’s first freshman All-American, Georgia Capell, and Academic All-American, Megan Durante. He had eight all-region award winners and a school-record 19 LSC awards, including the LSC Pitcher of the Year, LSC Academic Player of the Year, LSC Newcomer of the Year, and LSC Freshman of the Year.
 
Cumpian’s team also spent nine weeks ranked in the NFCA National Top 25 poll, including eight straight top 20 weeks to close out the season. Tarleton reached as high as No. 15 in the nation on two different occasions throughout the season.
 
His foundation of success started within the Tarleton Softball program after spending six seasons as the top assistant coach.
 
Over his final two seasons as an assistant coach for Tarleton, Cumpian was the primary hitting instructor for the TexAnns and led Tarleton to back-to-back seasons of hitting over .300 as a team, which was the first time a TexAnn team topped a .300 batting average since 2007. His 2015 Tarleton offense ranked No. 14 in the nation in scoring offense.
 
In 2015, his first season as the primary hitting instructor, he led Tarleton to new heights offensively as the TexAnns had two players hit over .400 for the season and, as a team, the TexAnns hit .328 for the No. 27-ranked batting average in the nation.
 
In addition to his leadership of the offense, Cumpian has spent his final two seasons as an assistant coach as the recruiting coordinator for Tarleton. His first recruiting class helped Tarleton clinch the 2015 South Central Region I Championship and advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regional Series for the first time in school history. Tarleton has been ranked in the NCAA regional rankings in five of Cumpian’s six seasons as an assistant.
 
In his earlier seasons with Tarleton, Cumpian served as the pitching coach for the TexAnns and had success in that area as well. He coached a first-team all-conference, all-region, and two LSC Gold Glove pitchers during his time in charge of the Tarleton pitchers.
 
In his time as an assistant coach for Tarleton, he has mentored 26 all-LSC players, four LSC Gold Glove winners, the 2011 LSC Newcomer of the Year, four all-region selections, and one NFCA All-America honoree. Tarleton has also had 42 LSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll selections during his time on the TexAnn coaching staff.
 
He also handles the primary day-to-day field maintenance at the Tarleton Softball Complex.
 
Cumpian, a 2010 graduate of Howard Payne University, was the student assistant with the Lady Jackets for the 2009-10 season prior to joining the TexAnns. Cumpian was a relief pitcher for Howard Payne's baseball team for four years.  He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from HPU and earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from Tarleton in 2014.