SEATTLE – On one hand, Heather Tarr is starting her dream job as softball coach at the University of Washington, one of the strongest programs in the nation.
On the other, she is a young, rookie coach who is taking the place of her former coach and resident legend, Teresa Wilson, who was relieved of her duties in January because of a drug scandal. Wilson has since filed a lawsuit against the school.
In other words, it may be Tarr’s dream job, but all the elements of a nightmare are there.
“As far as wiping the slate clean, I don’t really take that approach to what I’m going to do,” said Tarr, 29, announced Tuesday as the Huskies’ head coach. “I know we have a great foundation here … I want to build on what we already have here.”
Tarr signed a three-year contract. Terms were not disclosed.
A former UW walk-on first baseman, Tarr was a big part of the foundation of a program that has been to the Women’s College World Series seven of the last nine years. She was named to the all-Pacific-10 Conference team from 1995 to 1997. She helped the Huskies to second place in the 1996 WCWS and third in 1997.
She also was an undergrad assistant under Wilson in 1998, during which the Huskies finished third in the WCWS.
“I just really want this team to win a national championship,” Tarr said. “I, personally, didn’t win one when I was here playing. I know we can do it with what we have on the team this year and who we’re going to recruit to this university.”
Tarr comes to Montlake after six seasons at the University of the Pacific, where, as assistant coach and later as associate head coach, she helped the program to a 232-124 record, including 90-44 in the Big West Conference.
In 2001, she and Pacific head coach Brian Kolze were named the West Region Coaching Staff of the Year after the Tigers fell one game short of reaching the WCWS. Pacific finished the season ranked No. 18 in the nation.
“She is truly going to be missed here,” Kolze said. “I am very proud of her and very happy for her to get the opportunity to coach for a top-10 program. Coaching at Washington is truly her dream job and she will excel there like she did here at Pacific.”
UW players, many of whom knew Tarr from games against Pacific, enthusiastically endorsed their new coach.
“As a top-10 program, everyone thinks you’re supposed to beat them (Pacific), that the Pac-10 is going to be your toughest competition,” Huskies catcher/outfielder Jessica Wilkinson said. “Every season, they give us a run for our money. It just shows what she can do.”
Following her stint as a player at Washington, Tarr played first base for the Tampa Bay Fire Stix of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch Softball League in the summer of 1997. She led the league in fielding percentage for first basemen and also led the league in walks.
She was hired at Pacific in 1999.
Although saddened by the turn of events that cost Wilson her job, Tarr applied for the position, with Wilson’s blessing. In the interview process, she impressed the search committee by her passion for the program and her vision of its future.
“Frankly, she just knocked our socks off during the interview stage,” said interim athletic director Dick Thompson, who will step down next month in favor of newly hired AD Todd Turner. “You walked away knowing she has a great passion for Husky softball and a very clear vision to keep it among the elite programs in the nation.”
More established head coaches applied for the Washington job, said associate AD Ken Winstead, who chaired the search committee. But, contacted by the search group, former UW assistant coach John Rittman recommended Tarr, saying that she is as ready now to lead a program as Rittman himself was when hired as a rookie head coach at Stanford.
Rittman has built the Cardinal into a national top-10 program.
Tarr said her coaching style differs from that of Wilson. While she shares the same high expectations of her players as her mentor did, Tarr will not use the often brusque, confrontational style that marked Wilson’s approach.
“I’m more of like a player’s coach,” Tarr said. “I like to establish a good rapport with the players. I like for them to buy into what I, personally, am about. I’m a teacher. I love to teach the game. I feel like I have been coached by the best. I’ve played at the highest level.”
Tarr’s hire ends a chapter of controversy and uncertainty. Although Wilson’s assistants, Scott Centala and Steve Dailey, coached the Huskies to a 40-19 record and an appearance in the WCWS, conventional thinking was that the committee would hire a coach who represented a fresh start.
In fact, Tarr said neither Centala nor Dailey would be on her staff, a circumstance Tarr was careful to say was no reflection on them.
“I have an idea of who I want to hire,” Tarr said.
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