STEPHENVILLE - After six seasons as the top assistant for the TexAnn Softball program, Mark Cumpian was named the third head softball coach in school history Thursday.
 
"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 the last 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."
 
Cumpian takes the reigns of the program after Julie Mata stepped away from coaching after 20 years to pursue other career opportunities. Cumpian has been Mata's top assistant since coming to Tarleton prior to the 2011 season.
 
Over the last two seasons, Cumpian has been 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 the last two seasons 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 with Tarleton, he has coached 26 all-LSC, four LSC Gold Glove, 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 Bachelors Degree from HPU and earned a master's degree in Kinesiology from Tarleton in 2014. 
 
Since Tarleton began the softball program in 1996, the TexAnns boast an overall record of 583-454-3 with 14 LSC Tournament appearances and four NCAA playoff trips, including the 2015 Super Regional Series.