Washington Softball Turns to Familiar Face for Player Development Role

Former infielder Taryn Atlee accepts new role for Huskies as Director of Player Development and Innovation

Washington head coach Heather Tarr hired a former Husky for a newly created Director of Player Development role. | UW Athletics

University of Washington Softball Head Coach Heather Tarr announced on Friday that former Husky Taryn Atlee was hired to fill the newly created position of Director of Player Development and Innovation.

Tarr described Atlee as the "perfect person" to step into the newly created position.

"This position is designed to fully support the growth of our student-athletes in every space - skill development, career development and becoming the best version of yourself in life. Taryn embodies all of that, and she knows exactly how to help our athletes pursue greatness every single day."

Atlee had recently worked with the Corona Angels travel ball team as a head coach at the 18U level. She also took charge of running the organization's camps and clinics. According to the press release, she also "developed and led Elite Mindset training programs focused on building confidence, mental performance, goal setting and helping young athletes grow on and off the field."

Tarr commented on Atlee's skills and abilities by saying, "Her experience in the corporate world, combined with her recent work coaching and developing athletes at the 18U level, gives her a unique and powerful skill set. She understands how to build people, how to communicate, how to organize and how to elevate the standards of a high-performance environment."

"I'm excited to bring the experiences and perspective I've gained since leaving Washington back to Montlake and help create opportunities that impact our players both while they're here and long after softball," Atlee said. "Getting to come back and invest in this program and the women in it alongside Coach Tarr and our staff truly feels like coming home. I can't wait to get to work. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come back to Washington and give back to a program that gave me so much. I know firsthand how special the student-athlete experience at UW can be and my goal is to help our players get everything they can out of their time here — to develop as athletes, students, and people, find joy in the experience, build meaningful relationships and continue becoming the best versions of themselves."

Welcome back, Taryn 👏

Taryn Atlee returns to Montlake as our new Director of Player Development & Innovation!

📃 https://t.co/0WuSUqldND pic.twitter.com/vo9Kk8CwHn

— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) October 2, 2026

Atlee began her playing career at Rutgers University in 2017, where she played 51 games and hit .393. She was named First Team All-Big Ten and Second Team All-ECAC, as well as being named a Top-25 finalist for NFCA Freshman of the Year.

Atlee transferred to Washington in 2018, she was part of two Husky teams that made it to the Women's College World Series in both 2018 and 2019. As a junior in 2019, Atlee was named Third Team All-PAC 12 and First Team All-Region. Atlee finished her career at Washington with 139 hits and a .310 batting average.

She graduated in 2021 and continued to play softball professionally for Bollate in Italy.