Mike Reed’s legendary career went to another level in 2025 as he led the Patriots to a second straight NCAA Division II national championship, knocking off Tampa, 3-0, in the Women’s College World Series in the title game. The victory made UT Tyler the fourth program in NCAA Division II history to win consecutive championships and the seventh Division II program with multiple national titles.
Reed – entering his 25th season as a collegiate head coach and 22nd as the leader of the UT Tyler program – is now the all-time leader in winning percentage among all head coaches at all four-year NCAA universities with a percentage of .840. His record is now 981-187 over 24 seasons as a head coach, which includes three seasons as the head coach at East Texas Baptist (2001-03). Reed is 876-156 in 21 seasons at UT-Tyler and was 105-31 in three seasons at ETBU.
The Patriots were 62-5 in 2025, tying the program record for wins in a season with the 62-6 record UT Tyler posted in 2023 when it reached the national semifinals. UT Tyler has made four straight NCAA Division II WCWS appearances, posting a 231-28 record in those four seasons. The Patriots are a combined 120-13 in the last two seasons.
The 2025 season ended on a remarkable note as pitcher Primrose Aholelei pitched two complete games in the championship series, allowing just two hits in 14 innings while hurling two shutouts of Tampa, winning 6-0 and 3-0. The Patriots are the first team to not allow a run in the championship series since the Division II championship moved to its current format in 2016.
Aholelei was selected as the WCWS Most Outstanding Player in 2025 after four dominant appearances in the tournament. Aholelei was 4-0 (one relief appearance and three starts) in the tournament, finishing with 25 1/3 innings of work in the circle, allowing just seven hits, three runs, three earned runs, and six walks, while recording 32 strikeouts in four appearances. She threw three straight complete-game shutouts in her three starts in the tournament, including both championship series games.
The title led to the selection of the UT Tyler coaching staff as the 2025 NFCA Division II Coaching Staff of the Year for the second straight season, and the NFCA South Central Region Coaching Staff of the Year, the fifth straight year.
UT Tyler has been playing at the NCAA Division II level since 2019, with the first three seasons (2019-21) being played during the transition period from NCAA Division III status to NCAA Division II affiliation. In those six seasons, Reed has led the Patriots to a combined record of 317-42, including 86-14 from 2001-03 when the Patriots were ineligible for any conference, regional, or national postseason action.
A nine-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year (NCAA Division III), and eight-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Regional Coach of the Year, Reed has taken 10 teams to the WCWS (2009, 20111, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018 in NCAA Division III and 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 in NCAA Division II) with national championships in 2016, 2024, and 2025. The Patriots were national runners-up in 2015 at the Division III level, and 2024 and 2025 at the NCAA Division II level.
He has helped develop 41 All-Americans, 119 all-region and 189 all-conference selections and has led the UT Tyler program to the NCAA World Series in 11 of the 15 years since the Patriots became postseason eligible in Division III.
The 2024 Patriots hoisted the NCAA Division II National Championship Trophy on May 25, 2024, in Longwood, Florida, after defeating Western Washington in the best-of-three championship series. Those victories capped off an NCAA Division II national tournament run in which UT Tyler went a perfect 10-0, and an NCAA Division II WCWS appearance in which the Patriots outscored their competition by a 30-5 margin. Christin Haygood was named the Tournament MVP after winning all five games at the Division II WCWS.
That championship run pushed the Patriots' overall record to 58-8 on the year, the second-highest win total in program history. UT Tyler claimed a share of the Lone Star Conference regular-season championship with a record of 37-5 in LSC play and finished the year with a 13-4 record against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
The 2023 version of the Patriots went 62-6, setting a program record for wins in a season, and finished as semifinalists in the NCAA Division II WCWS for a second straight season. UT Tyler earned the No. 1 overall seed in both the South Central Region Tournament and the NCAA Division II WCWS for a second consecutive year after putting together a Division II-best 27-game winning streak. UT-Tyler finished the season ranked No. 3 in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll after maintaining a top-five position in all 12 regular-season versions of the poll.
UT Tyler forced the if-necessary game against eventual national champions North Georgia in the program’s return trip to the national tournament. The Patriots advanced to Chattanooga, Tennessee, after going 5-0 in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, following their first LSC Postseason Tournament Title. That championship came on the heels of a 39-2 year in the LSC and a third straight LSC regular season title.
Tatum Goff was named the 2023 NFCA Division II Pitcher of the Year after going 42-0, an NCAA Division II record for most consecutive victories and an NCAA record at all levels for most single-season wins without a loss. She was named as an NFCA first team All-American for a second straight season. Goff was joined on the NFCA first team All-American list by JT Smith, while Courtney Plocheck was an NFCA second team All-American.
That 2022 squad for UT Tyler appeared as the No. 1-ranked team in the country according to the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll in 13 out of the 14 regular-season polls, and unanimously sat atop that poll in eight of those weeks. UT Tyler was ranked in the No. 1 spot in all three of the NCAA South Central Regional Polls, earning the program the No. 1 overall seed in both the regional tournament and NCAA Division II WCWS.
The Patriots finished the 2022 season as national semifinalists in their first year of postseason eligibility at the NCAA Division II level, winning two elimination games at the World Series before being downed in the semifinals by eventual national champion Rogers State. UT-Tyler completed its campaign with a 49-9 record and a second straight LSC regular season title (24-6 in LSC action).
UT Tyler began its three-year transition from NCAA Division III affiliation to NCAA Division II status in 2018-19, and the Patriots were a combined 86-14 overall and 32-6 in the LSC during the three years of transition, which includes the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
The Patriots were a combined 90-11 in their final two seasons at the NCAA. Division III level (2017 and 2018) with a fifth-place finish at the Division III WCWS in 2018 and a sixth-place finish in 2017.
Reed led the Patriots to the 2016 national championship to secure the program's first national title after guiding the team to the national runner-up finish in 2015. After the runner-up finish the year before, the Patriots dominated in Salem, Virginia, at the Division III WCWS by outscoring their opponents 30-1 and securing the title with a 7-0 win over Messiah in the finals. The national championship came after Reed led the program to four American Southwest Conference Championships and to the NCAA Division III WCWS five times.
UT Tyler pitcher Kelsie Batten was honored individually as the NFCA National Player of the Year and was named an All-American along with shortstop Raven Rodriguez. Reed and his staff were honored as the NFCA West Region Coaching Staff of the Year, while Batten, Rodriguez, Prather, Stevens, and Vanessa Carrizales were named to the all-region team. Rodriguez was named the ASC Player of the Year, Batten the ASC Pitcher of the Year, and Prather, Batten, Stevens, Kissinger, Carrizales, Jackie Mendez, Kristin Lopez, and Jade Green earned all-conference recognition.
In 2015, the Patriots went 50-5, finishing with what was at the time the second-most wins in NCAA Division III softball history. The Patriots reached the Division III WCWS for the first time, falling to Tufts, 2-0, in the national championship series. Tufts finished the year 51-0, winning its third straight national championship. During the season, Reed recorded his 500th career coaching victory in the Patriots’ 7-2 win over UT Dallas on April 3. Reed and his staff were once again named the NFCA West Region Coaching Staff of the Year and the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year.
Reed came to UT Tyler in 2004 from East Texas Baptist University, where he coached the Tigers to the ASC Championship in all three years and left as the all-time leader in career wins at 105-31 (.772). He was twice named ASC East Coach of the Year for his efforts, which twice saw his teams advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2002 and 2003.
Reed was hired in early 2004 and spent the year putting the UT-Tyler program together. In its first season (2005), UT Tyler was 27-11 (18-10 in the ASC), followed by a 26-10 campaign in 2006 that included a 15-7 record in ASC play. Under Reed’s guidance, the Patriots have never had a losing season, have won at least 30 games in every season since 2007 (other than the COVID-shortened 2020 season when they finished 17-3), have won at least 40 games 12 times, have won at least 50 games four times, and have won at least 60 games twice, including in 2025.
The Clarksville, Texas, native graduated from ETBU with a bachelor’s in business administration before earning a master’s in education from UT Tyler. A no-hitter highlighted his standout playing career for the ETBU baseball team, and his name is still scattered in the record books in several statistical categories.
Reed has served various administrative roles over his career, including Assistant AD of Compliance at ETBU for three years, Assistant AD of Compliance at UT Tyler for eight years, and Assistant AD of Business and Budget for four years.
Reed and his wife, Amanda, have three children: Garrett, Gavin, and Rylee Paige.
