Tara Wheeler joined the Mines softball coaching staff in the summer of 2018.
An experienced coach and player, Wheeler served as an assistant coach at MSU Denver from 2014 to 2016, and spent the 2016-17 school year assisting with Arvada West High School's program. Prior to coming to Mines, Wheeler was an assistant coach with the Colorado Next Level 16u program.
A native of Wheat Ridge, the former Tara Mickelson is a familiar name to RMAC softball fans after an All-American playing career for MSU Denver. She led the Roadrunners to the NCAA Division II World Series in 2010 and earned Daktronics Second-Team All-America, NFCA Second-Team All-Region, and First-Team All-RMAC honors. She led NCAA Division II home runs that year (25) and was named one of Softball Magazine's top 12 D-II seniors. As a junior for MSUD, Wheeler was named Daktronics First-Team All-America and First-Team All-RMAC. The Roadrunners were RMAC regular-season and tournament champions in both of her seasons.
Wheeler began her playing career at Purdue Fort Wayne, where she named All-Independent Second Team as a rookie and First-Team All-Summit League as a sophomore. She completed her degree at Northeastern State University in 2014.
