Tobin Echo-Hawk was named the 13th head coach of the Colorado School of Mines softball program in December of 2024.
A native of Louisville, Colorado, Echo-Hawk brings a wealth of experience at the collegiate level as a player and coach to Golden, having been a four-year letter winner at the University of Nebraska and making coaching stops at three other Division I institutions. She was most recently the head softball coach at nearby Erie High School, where she was twice named Front Range League Coach of the Year and guided the Tigers to a CHSAA Class 5A runner-up result in 2023.
In her debut season at the helm of the Orediggers in 2025, Echo-Hawk guided the program to a 22-32 record overall and a 21-22 mark in RMAC play with the team in contention for a postseason bid until the penultimate weekend of the season. Under her guidance, Cassidy Chvatal, Kendall Aragon and Kellan Ton all earned All-RMAC honors. Chvatal also led NCAA Division II in home run during the regular season and broke the Mines single-season records for home runs and RBI and led the RMAC in both categories. The Orediggers also hit their most home runs as a team in more than a decade in 2025, leaving the yard 43 times headlined by Chvatal and Lexie Semeyn who became the first teammates in 13 seasons to hit 10 or more home runs apiece. Mines posted four series wins including a sweep of Adams State in mid-April and went 13-7 at home and 16-8 in games played at Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field.
Prior to her return to Colorado, Echo-Hawk spent two seasons on staff at New Mexico State University where she helped the Aggies to the 2021 WAC Championship while also taking home Player and Freshman of the Year honors with Nikki Butler and Matalasi Faapito. During her time in Las Cruces, six players earned All-WAC honors and two were named NFCA All-Region selections.
Echo-Hawk ’s last head coaching stop at the collegiate level came at the University of Texas at El Paso where she spent six seasons and led the Miners to 104 wins during that span. During the 2016 season she guided UTEP to a school-record 13 conference wins on their way to an appearance in that year’s Conference USA Softball Championship. That year Courtney Clayton was named C-USA Player of the Year and was one of 10 players during Echo-Hawk ’s time in El Paso named All-Conference while three earned All-Region accolades.
Echo-Hawk made her head coaching debut at Portland State in 2009 following two seasons on staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. In five seasons at the helm of the Vikings, she led the program to 146 wins including a pair of 30-win seasons, four NCAA tournament appearances and a bevy of other honors. During her time in Portland, she was named Conference Coach of the Year four times and won three Pacific Coast Softball Conference division titles, four PCSC championships, a regular season Big Sky Conference title, a Big Sky Conference tournament title and finished either first or tied for first in all five seasons as head coach. In PSU’s debut season in the Big Sky Conference in 2013, Echo-Hawk was named Coach of the Year and saw eight of her players earn All-Conference honors. She coached three conference Players of the Year and four Pitchers of the Year while totaling 10 NFCA All-Region selections, 29 All-Conference selections, 50 weekly award winners and 41 Academic Honor Roll selections.
A four-year letter winner at Nebraska, Echo-Hawk was a two time All-American in her career as she was part of the Huskers’ re-emergence as a national powerhouse in the mid-1990s. She batted .405 as a junior with a school record 22 doubles as part of a then-school record 43-win season and an NCAA Tournament appearance. In 1996, she batted .340 and scored what was a then-school record 61 runs to lead a second consecutive trip to the national tournament. Echo-Hawk still ranks among the all-time leaders at Nebraska in several career categories including batting average (2nd, .379) hits (1st, 266), runs scored (4th, 168), doubles (t2nd, 48) and total bases (6th, 378) along with numerous single-season records.
