Texas Softball Announces Megan Ciolli Bartlett as New Assistant Coach

Ciolli Bartlett spent the last five seasons as the head softball coach at Ball State

Texas head softball coach Mike White announced on Friday that former Ball State head coach Megan Ciolli Bartlett is venturing to the Forty Acres to join his staff as an assistant coach with the Longhorns.

"We are very excited to announce the addition of Megan Ciolli Bartlett to our Longhorns family," White said. "Coach Ciolli Bartlett brings a wealth of experience as a head coach, a professional player and as a former All-American standout at Notre Dame. She is an excellent role model for young women, with tremendous passion for game, and possesses a personality that will definitely enhance both our program and coaching staff."

As the head coach at Ball State over the past five seasons (2016-20), Ciolli Bartlett led the program to a 141-108 overall record (.567) while registering three consecutive 30-win seasons from 2017-19. Over that stretch, she helped guide the Cardinals to the 2018 Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division title with that season's 37 victories marking the fourth-most wins in a single season in program history.

During the abbreviated 2020 campaign, Ciolli Bartlett's squad registered an 18-9 overall record while rating highly in the NCAA Division I team statistics for on-base percentage (26th - .405), scoring (32nd - 6.2), OPS (32nd - .908), HR's-per-game (35th – 1.07), slugging percentage (35th - .503) and team ERA (37th – 2.22).

"I'm honored to join Coach White's staff with the goal of helping win the first national championship in the history of Longhorns softball," Ciolli Bartlett said. "It was going to take nothing short of an extraordinary opportunity to entice me to leave a place like Ball State and the people I love. With this opportunity at Texas, Coach White has delivered on that and more. The UT program is made up of some of the most gifted and passionate players in our game today. I can't wait to get to Austin to get started."

Over her five years in charge of the Ball State program, Ciolli Barlett mentored four National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Great Lakes Region selections, outfielder Rachel Houck (second team), designated player Madison Lee (second team), pitcher Nicole Steinbach (third team) and infielder Stacy Payton (third team). She also had players earn a combination of 12 All-MAC or All-MAC Freshman Team honors and 29 Academic All-MAC accolades to go along with six MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete inclusions.

Ciolli Bartlett began her coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Loyola University Chicago (2005-07), where she was part of the 2007 Horizon League Coaching Staff of the Year while helping her squad to the league's regular season title.

From there, she moved on to become an assistant coach at Northern Illinois (2007-12), working with infielders and outfielders while also serving as the recruiting coordinator, offensive coordinator and camp coordinator. During her stay at NIU, she guided Huskies hitters to multiple single-season records and helped tutor the squad to top 40 national rankings in 2011 in doubles (2nd – 1.81), batting average (24th - .312), scoring (33rd – 5.49) and slugging percentage (39th - .461).

After spending a single campaign at DePaul as a volunteer assistant coach for the 2014 Big East regular season and tournament champions (44-11), Ciolli Bartlett moved on to become an assistant coach at Purdue (2014-15). During the 2015 season with the Boilermakers, she served as the team's defensive coordinator, helping the squad improve its team fielding percentage from 10th (.956) all the way to third in the Big 10 (.970).

As a professional softball player, Ciolli Bartlett was a part of two regular season National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) championship teams (2005-06) with the Chicago Bandits.

Collegiately, Ciolli Bartlett was a four-year letter winner at Notre Dame (2002-05), helping power the Irish to four NCAA Regional appearances, four Big East regular season championships and two Big East Tournament titles. A two-time NFCA All-American (2004, 2005), she captained the 2005 squad to a 46-15 mark while helping secure the program's first-ever NCAA Regional home contests.

The 2004 Big East Player of the Year, Ciolli Bartlett completed her playing career at Notre Dame as the program's leader in hits (284) and stolen bases (76), while finishing in the top five in batting average (second - .368) and runs scored (second – 161). She also finished ranked in the UND career top 10 in doubles (ninth – 37), triples (seventh – 9), HR's (ninth – 13) and RBIs (10th – 101).

Prior to her collegiate career, the Terre Haute, Ind., native was a three-sport standout in softball, basketball and soccer at North Vigo High School. Following her senior year in 2001, Ciolli Bartlett was named Indiana Miss Softball as well as the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year.

Ciolli Bartlett graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree of business administration in managerial consulting in 2005. She completed her master's of business administration in healthcare administration at Loyola University Chicago in 2007 and went on to earn a juris doctor from Northern Illinois in 2012.

A licensed attorney in the state of Illinois, she is married to Mike Bartlett, a former professional hockey player, and has two daughters, Vivian and Maren.