Tarleton State University Athletics

Mark Cumpian will begin his 11th year at the helm when the 2027 softball season begins.

Cumpian and the Texans just posted a historic 2026 campaign. They went 38-23 overall and 13-5 in WAC play, advancing to a winner-take-all WAC Tournament championship game, finishing second in the conference. The 38 wins marks a new program best in its NCAA Division I era, surpassing the 36 wins Tarleton State posted just a season before in 2025. Tarleton State took second in the WAC’s regular season and second in the WAC Softball Tournament, back-to-back years making it to the WAC Tournament championship game. For the first time in the D1 era, Tarleton State Softball was voted to finish first in the WAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, while standout pitcher Shelby Schultz was named Preseason Co-Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. Tarleton State rattled off nine straight wins to start the 2026 campaign, and posted highlight wins against Texas State, UTEP, New Mexico, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Colgate, South Dakota State and Stephen F. Austin throughout non-conference play. After winning its first WAC series of the year, the Texans followed with three straight WAC sweeps and nine straight WAC wins overall, rolling through Southern Utah, Utah Valley and Utah Tech. That set up a winner-take-all regular season finale at California Baptist for the conference regular season title. Following the regular season, three Texans were named to All-WAC Teams. LHP Shelby Schultz and RHP/OF Jaelynn Duke were named First Team All-WAC, and IF Casey Schultz was named Second Team All-WAC. Both the Schultz sisters, C Macie Vickers and IF Braylin Pannill earned All-WAC Tournament Team honors, as well. Statistically across NCAA Division I, the Texans ranked top-50 in walks (No. 25 with 231), hits (No. 32 with 493), runs (No. 41 with 363), RBI (No. 44 with 326), and sacrifice bunts (No. 47 with 33). In the classroom, the Texans posted a 3.48 team GPA, with 18 student-athletes posted a 3.5 GPA or better.

The first year of Tarleton State’s NCAA postseason eligibility in 2025 featured a Cumpian-led Texan run to their first WAC Championship title game. The Purple and White secured the No. 2 seed in the tournament. In the final weekend of conference play through the first game of the tournament for Tarleton State, the Texans defeated tournament host California Baptist in four straight games, three of them in Stephenville. In March, Tarleton State took the three-game conference series from then-No. 24 Grand Canyon. The 2-1 series win included 3-0 and 5-2 victories for Tarleton State, which marked the first time the Lopes took a home series loss since 2022, a conference series loss since 2023 and marked just one of two times they were shutout in the 2025 season. Two more historic days came as Hannah Blincoe became just the third pitcher in program history to ever toss two no-hitters in a single season and the first since 2019. She tossed her first one on Feb. 23, 2025, vs. New Mexico in a 2-0 no-hitter shutout victory. Just 19 days later she tossed her second of the season over UT Arlington on March 14, 2025, in the Texans’ 8-0 walk-off run-rule no-hitter shutout win becoming the first in the Tarleton State’s Division I era to do so. Individually, Cumpian helped Shelby Schultz earn WAC Freshman of the Year, the first time at the Division I level a Texan has earned the honor. He also helped three student-athletes in Austin Germain, Kalyn Hill and Shelby Schultz to All-WAC First Team honors while Hannah Blincoe earned All-WAC Second Team honors. All four of these also earned WAC All-Tournament Team for their efforts in driving the Texans to the title game. Shelby Schultz and Hill were also both named to the NFCA All-Region team. Hill was named third team while Shelby Schultz was named second team as she was then named an NFCA All-American Nominee.

In his final year of reclassification in 2024, Cumpian helped lead the Texans to their second straight WAC Tournament in as many years as eligible propelled by back-to-back home runs by Kayla Wallace and Tristyn Trull in the final regular season contest. History was once again etched in the books as Kendall Daniel tossed just the 11th no-hitter in program history on Feb. 18, 2024 vs. Mississippi Valley State, the second freshman to ever complete the feat. Individually, Cumpian helped Kelci Hill earn First Team All-WAC honors. Hill was also named to the 2024 NFCA second team All-Region, marking the first Texans to accomplish the feat in the Division I era. She also finished in the top three in the conference in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, total bases and at bats.

In 2023 after its second-straight 30-win season, Tarleton State earned the fifth seed in its first ever appearance at the WAC Tournament. Following the conference tournament, the Texans were once again invited to take part in the National Invitational Softball Championships (NISC). The Texans won their second game of the tournament for its second postseason win as a Division I program. A pair of masterful pitching performances dazzled in the Tarleton State circle in 2023. Graduate transfer Grace Garcia tossed the second perfect game in program history on Feb. 19 against Texas A&M-Commerce. Tristan Bridges twirled the 10th no-hitter in Tarleton State history against California Baptist on March 31. Individually, Cumpian helped two Texans earn Second Team All-WAC honors, Katy Schaefer and Kelci Hill. Schaefer was also named to the All-WAC Preseason Team. Hill finished in the top three in the conference in hits and was tied for second in triples with Kayla Wallace. Grace Garcia ranked second in strikeouts in the league at 106.

In just their second year as a member of NCAA Division I and the Western Athletic Conference in 2022, Cumpian led the Texans to one of the nation’s best turnarounds. Tarleton State recorded its first 30-win campaign at the Division I level and qualified for the National Invitational Softball Championships (NISC). It marked the first national postseason berth by any Tarleton State Athletics program in the Division I era and the Texans won their second game of that tournament – 6-4 over UC San Diego – for the first postseason win in school history.

In the spring of 2021, Cumpian led Tarleton State into the Division I ranks as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Tarleton State wasted no time in taking on some of the nation’s elite with showdowns against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 11 Oklahoma State and No. 10 Texas in the first two months of the season. Cumpian earned his first win as an NCAA Division I head coach with a 7-3 home win over Prairie View A&M.

Tarleton State finished its Division II tenure as one of the elite softball programs in the nation under Cumpian. Tarleton State won 109 games from 2018-20, which was the most by any team in the daunting Lone Star Conference over that span. Tarleton State was atop the league standings with a 19-4, 6-0 record when the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 season. Prior to that, Tarleton State had posted 90 wins in each of its previous two seasons with a school-record 50 wins coming in 2018.

Cumpian’s team also spent nine weeks in 2018 ranked in the NFCA National Top 25 poll, including eight straight top 20 weeks to close out the season. Tarleton State reached as high as No. 15 in the nation on two different occasions throughout the season. The team stayed nationally-ranked through the majority of its remaining tenure at the Division II level.

In his first season at the helm in 2017, Cumpian made Tarleton State history by becoming the first rookie head coach in any Tarleton State sport to qualify for the NCAA postseason in his first year as head coach. His team 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 an LSC Gold Glove award winner.

During his time as a head coach in the Lone Star Conference, Cumpian had three players named to All-America teams, including the school’s first freshman All-American, Georgia Capell, and Academic All-American, Megan Durante. Capell and Jordan Withrow were multi-year All-Americans. He had 10 all-region award winners and 30 All-LSC awards, including the LSC Pitcher of the Year, two LSC Academic Players of the Year, LSC Newcomer of the Year, and LSC Freshman of the Year.

His foundation of success started within the Tarleton State Softball program after spending six seasons as the top assistant coach.

Over his final two seasons as an assistant coach for Tarleton State, Cumpian was the primary hitting instructor and led Tarleton State to back-to-back seasons of hitting over .300 as a team, which was the first time a Tarleton State team topped a .300 batting average since 2007. His 2015 Tarleton State offense ranked No. 14 in the nation in scoring offense.

In 2015, his first season as the primary hitting instructor, he led Tarleton State to new heights offensively with two players hit over .400 for the season and, as a team, the team hit .328 for the No. 27-ranked batting average in the nation.

In addition to his leadership of the offense, Cumpian spent his final two seasons as an assistant coach as the recruiting coordinator for Tarleton State. His first recruiting class helped Tarleton State 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 State was ranked in the NCAA regional rankings in five of Cumpian’s six seasons as an assistant.

In his earlier seasons with Tarleton State, Cumpian served as the pitching coach 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 State pitchers.

In his time as an assistant coach for Tarleton State, he 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 State also had 42 LSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll selections during his time on the coaching staff.

Cumpian, a 2010 graduate of Howard Payne University, was the student assistant with the Lady Jackets for the 2009-10 season prior to joining Tarleton State. 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 State in 2014. He resides in Stephenville with his wife, Jennifer. They have two children, Myles and Hazel.

 

The Mark Cumpian File
Hometown	Charlotte, Texas
High School	Charlotte High School ('05)
College	Howard Payne ('10)
Family	Wife: Jennifer
	Son: Myles
	Daughter: Hazel
Coaching History
Year	School		Position
2010	Howard Payne		Student Assistant
2011-16	Tarleton State		Assistant Coach
2017-Present	Tarleton State		Head Coach
NCAA Head Coaching Record
Year	School		Overall	Conf.	Home	Postseason
2017	Tarleton State		35-22	18-12	14-7	NCAA Regional
2018	Tarleton State		50-11	23-7	22-1	NCAA Regional
2019	Tarleton State		40-15	20-10	14-7	NCAA Regional
2020	Tarleton State		19-4	6-0	2-0	Season ended due to COVID-19
2021	Tarleton State		17-36	5-12	8-5	Inaugural D1 Season
2022	Tarleton State		30-25	14-10	16-8	NISC Qualifier
2023	Tarleton State		31-29	13-11	16-11	WAC Tournament, NISC Qualifier
2024	Tarleton State		23-32	9-16	14-8	WAC Tournament
2025	Tarleton State		36-22	16-8	22-7	WAC Tournament Title Game
2026	Tarleton State		38-23	13-5	21-10	WAC Tournament Title Game
TOTAL	Tarleton State: 10 Years		319-219	137-91	149-64