Karen Mullins is an American

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

coach, most recently the long-time head coach of the

Connecticut Huskies softball The UConn Huskies softball team represents the University of Connecticut in the sport of college softball in at the Division I level of the NCAA. The team was founded in the spring of the 1974–1975 academic school year, and is a member of the ...

team. She served in that role from 1984 to 2014. She announced her retirement on May 19, 2014.

Playing career

Mullins played four years of basketball at Connecticut and also two years of softball. Connecticut was just beginning to establish women's sports during her time as a student in Storrs.

Coaching career

After completing a master's in sport management at UConn, Mullins became head coach at Nichols College in Massachusetts. She led the team for two seasons, compiling a 10–10 record before moving to

E. O. Smith High School E. O. Smith High School, (or E.O. Smith) named after a member of Connecticut's legislature and former University of Connecticut president Edwin O. Smith, is a High school, secondary school located in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. E.O. Smith ...

as a basketball coach. In 1984, she returned to UConn as head softball coach. Mullins would remain at UConn for thirty one seasons, leading the Huskies to 10 top 2 finishes in the NCAA Northeast rankings, eight appearances in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship, a Women's College World Series berth in 1993, six Big East Conference regular season and seven

Big East Conference softball tournament The Big East Conference softball tournament (sometimes known simply as the Big East Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in college softball for the Big East Conference. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the N ...

championships, and an overall record of 862–626–5. Over 96 percent of her players graduated, nine earned All-American honors, six were named academic All-Americans, and her players earned Big East Player or Pitcher of the Year awards 11 times. She retired as one of the top 50 all-time coaches in career wins. Mullins was one of the longest-tenured coaches at UConn, although many coaches also had remained in Storrs for multiple decades.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullins, Karen Living people People from Waterford, Connecticut UConn Huskies women's basketball players American softball coaches UConn Huskies softball coaches UConn Huskies softball players Nichols Bison softball coaches Year of birth missing (living people)