Megan Bartlett became the eighth head coach in Arizona State softball history when she took over the Sun Devil program during the summer of 2022.
Over the course of her three seasons in Tempe at the helm of ASU, Bartlett has amassed a 77-78 (.497) all-time record with a NCAA Regional appearance. She also helped the program transition from the Pac-10/12 Conference to the Big 12 Conference in 2025, marking the first conference change for the Sun Devils' softball program since 1986.
Bartlett's 77 wins with the Sun Devils rank as the sixth most by a head coach in program history. During the 2026 campaign, she will likely pass Craig Nicholson (2014-15) for fifth place as well as become just the fifth ASU softball head coach to reach the 100 wins milestone.
While in Tempe, Bartlett and her staff have coached eight all-conference selections, five all-region honorees and two All-Americans. In the classroom, Arizona State has had 13 CSC Academic All-Distict members and one Academic All-American.
In 2025, Bartlett led ASU to a 35-win season, the most since the program won 43 in 2022 and just the second time the Sun Devils reached the plateau since 2019. The program also earned its first NCAA Regional berth since 2022. Her team found success at Farrington Stadium with ASU winning 23 times on its home dirt, including a win over then-No. 21/20 and eventual WCWS participant Oregon (4-3) on Feb. 13. The Sun Devils also earned wins over then-No. 21 Cal (6-4, Feb. 9); then-No. 25 Washington (4-1, Feb. 15); then-No. 10 Arizona (3-2, Mar. 23), then-No. 11/12 Texas Tech (7-3, Apr. 27) and then-No. 23/23 Oklahoma State (2-1, May 8) for a total of six ranked victories.
As a result of her team's success throughout the 2025 season, senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown was named a First Team All-American by the NFCA and a Second Team All-American by D1Softball and Softball America. Brown, along with Tanya Windle, Tiare Ho-Ching and Ashleigh Mejia, were all selected as All-Big 12 performers. Brown also picked up NFCA All-Region honors alongside Kelsey Hall.
2024 was a continuation of Bartlett's rebuilding project after having to retool the program from scratch following the 2022 season. However, despite the 20-win total, Tanya Windle was selected as a third team NFCA All-Region honoree, while Kelsey Hall and Libby Walsh were both chosen as All-Pac-12 honorees during the Sun Devils' final season in the league. The season also provided winning moments for ASU with ranked wins over then-No. 5 Washington (9-3, Mar. 10) and then-No. 20 Cal (5-4, Apr. 27) as well as an appearance in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12's postseason tournament.
Bartlett guided the Sun Devils through a roster overhaul to finish 2023 with a 22-26 overall record. That included a series win over Women's College World Series participant Washington and an eight-game winning streak early in the season.
With Bartlett at the helm, ASU saw Yanni Acuña be named NFCA All-American, NFCA All-Region, All-Pac-12 Conference, CSC Academic All-American and CSC Academic All-District. Jordan VanHook was also named All-Region, and Kylee Magee was named to the Pac-2 All-Freshman Team.
Prior to taking the Sun Devils, Bartlett spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Texas. That followed five seasons in Indiana as a head coach building the Ball State softball program.
In 2022, Bartlett helped guide unseeded Texas to its WCWS Finals appearance against Oklahoma. The Longhorns finished with a 47-22-1 record and No. 2 in the final USA Today/NFCA poll. Bartlett was a mastermind behind the success of the Texas offense, with the program leading the nation in doubles (116) while setting school single-season records for doubles, runs scored (397), hits (560), total bases (906), RBIs (355), walks (224) and games played (70).
UT rallied for an impressive 18 come-from-behind victories, posted 14 total wins over ranked teams and won its first six elimination games during its postseason run through the NCAA Seattle Regional, the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional and the Women's College World Series. In her first campaign in Austin in 2021, Bartlett helped Texas to a 43-14 overall record, a No. 12 final ranking and a berth in the NCAA Stillwater Super Regional.
The squad set program records for team batting average (.342 - third in NCAA Division I), slugging (.561 - seventh NCAA) and on-base percentage (.419 - fourth NCAA) while putting up top five single-season totals for hits (512 - third NCAA), doubles (79), RBIs (338) and HR’s (78).
As the head coach at Ball State for five seasons (2016-20), 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, 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).
Over her five years in charge of the Ball State program, Bartlett mentored four 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.
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), 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, Bartlett was a part of two regular season National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) championship teams (2005-06) with the Chicago Bandits. She was a four-year letter winner at Notre Dame (2002-05) under her maiden name Megan Ciolli, 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, 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), HRs (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, Bartlett was named Indiana Miss Softball as well as the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year.
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 they have two daughters, Vivian and Maren.
Bartlett's Coaching Timeline:
- 2022 - Present: Arizona State, Head Coach
- 2020 - 2022: Texas, Assistant Coach
- 2015 - 2020: Ball State, Head Coach
- 2014 - 2015: Purdue, Assistant Coach
- 2013 - 2014: DePaul, Volunteer Assistant Coach
- 2007 - 2012: Northern Illinois, Assistant Coach
- 2005 - 2007: Loyola-Chicago, Graduate Assistant Coach
Bartlett's Year-By-Year Results:
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standings | Postseason |
| Ball State (MAC) (2016-20) | |||||
| 2016 | Ball State | 22-32 | 8-16 | 6th | |
| 2017 | Ball State | 30-28 | 14-10 | 3rd | |
| 2018 | Ball State | 37-19 | 16-7 | 2nd | |
| 2019 | Ball State | 34-20 | 9-8 | 6th | |
| 2020 | Ball State | 18-9 | 0-0 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | |
| Ball State: | 141-108 (.566) | 61-46 (.570) | |||
| Arizona State (Pac-12) (2023-25) | |||||
| 2023 | Arizona State | 22-26 | 6-18 | T-8th | |
| 2024 | Arizona State | 20-31 | 3-21 | 9th | |
| Arizona State (Big-12) (2025-Present) | |||||
| 2025 | Arizona State | 35-21 | 14-10 | 5th | NCAA Regional |
| Arizona State | 77-78 (.497) | 23-49 (.319) | |||
| Total: | 218-186 (.540) | ||||