Head Coach Rachel Hartgrove

Rachel Hartgrove was recently promoted as the head coach of Utah Valley University softball. This season Hartgrove enters her seventh season of coaching overall at UVU after she previously spent six seasons as Todd Fairbourne's top assistant.

In 2012, Hartgrove helped guide UVU to its most successful season at the Division I ranks as it finished with a school-record 33 victories. She also helped the Wolverines finish second in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division and to its first-ever Great West Conference Championship after they won the 2012 GWC Tournament.

Hartgrove also helped coach the 2009 squad to a .320 batting average, a school record as well as ranking 11th in the nation.

Hartgrove joined the Wolverine coaching staff after a stellar four-year playing career at Utah Valley where she hit over .300 each year and was named to the Division I All-Independent First Team for three consecutive years.

Hartgrove hit .364 her senior year with seven home runs and 30 RBIs. She led the Wolverines in every offensive statistical category and was named the Utah Valley University Female Athlete of the year.

In 2005 she garnered Division I Independent Player of the Year honors while starting all 50 games. She hit .392 in the Wolverines first season with a complete Division I schedule. She had 10 home runs and 34 RBIs along with 17 doubles and a .699 slugging percentage.

In her sophomore season she struck out only five times in 123 at bats while hitting .317. In her first season as a Wolverine she batted .425 and struck out only eight times in 212 at-bats. She was named to the First Team All-SWAC and Region 18 teams.

Hartgrove prepped at Pleasant Grove High School. She earned All-Region and All-State awards in softball during her final three years.

Assistant Coach Josh Musselman

Musselman is entering his first season as assistant coach at Utah Valley.

Musselman, originally from Long Beach, Calif., comes to UVU from the Los Angeles area where he was most recently the head coach at Edison High School in Huntington Beach. Musselman was also the head coach at Pasadena City College in 2011, a volunteer assistant at Loyola Marymount in 2010, an assistant at Sonoma State in 2008 and 2009, an assistant at Cal State San Bernardino in 2006 and 2007, and an assistant at Cal Baptist in 2003.

Musselman has had many different coaching responsibilities during his tenure. While coaching at LMU, he worked with 2012 USA Softball Women's National Team member Sam Fischer. He also has worked extensively with improving his teams' offensive production over the years as well as helping his student-athletes improve their grades in the classroom.

Musselman graduated from Antioch University of Los Angeles with his bachelor's degree in 2007 and Concordia University of Irvine with his master's in 2011.

Assistant Coach Tara Bendt

Bendt is entering her first season as assistant coach at Utah Valley.

Originally from South Dakota, Bendt resides currently in South Jordan, Utah. She was a standout softball player at Kearns High School in Kearns, Utah, and then went on to play two years at Salt Lake Community College. Bendt was an All-American player in 2008 and was named the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Year that year. She then transferred to UNLV where she had a stellar career, which included being named a First Team All-Mountain West Conference Player and a two-time all-conference scholar athlete.

Bendt went on to coach at the University of Utah as the director of softball operations for the Utes in 2011. She also coached last season as a volunteer assistant at her alma mater, UNLV. Bendt has coaching experience at the club and high school level as well.