Texas A&M Softball Coaching Staff

Trisha Ford

Trisha Ford was hired as the softball program's 10th head coach on June 7, 2021. Ford comes to Aggieland following a six-year stint at the helm of Arizona State.

Over her head coaching career, Ford has amassed a 397-226-1 (.686) record at Saint Mary's (CA), Fresno State and Arizona State, including a 212-89 (.704) ledger with the Sun Devils. She has twice been named the Mountain West Coach of the Year (2015, 2016) and the Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2018, 2022).

Ford earned her second Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor last season after guiding ASU to its 17th-straight NCAA Tournament and the program's 28th-consecutive winning season. The Sun Devils won their third Pac-12 Championship and first since 2011, winning a program-record 20 league games.

Jeff Harger

Harger rejoins Ford in Aggieland after spending the last five seasons at Arizona State and will work directly with offensive development.

Harger helped Arizona State’s offense rank among the best nationally and in the Pac-12 Conference. In 2022, the Sun Devils led the league in scoring (6.85 runs per game), slugging percentage (.610), on-base percentage (.422), home runs per game (1.93), doubles per game (1.57) and walks (199). ASU’s home runs per game, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and scoring all ranked in the top-10 in the country.

Russ Heffley

Russ Heffley joined Trisha Ford's inaugural staff at Texas A&M as volunteer assistant coach in August of 2022 before being elevated to assistant coach in July of 2023.

Heffley oversees the development of the Aggie catchers and coaches first base in-game, while assisting with recruiting efforts, hitting duties and day-to-day activities. In his first season in Aggieland, he mentored and elevated Julia Cottrill’s game as she earned NFCA Third Team All-America and NFCA All-South Region First Team accolades as a junior. Along with national and regional recognition, Cottrill garnered All-SEC First Team honors after finishing the SEC regular season ranked in the top 10 in numerous offensive categories, including three top five rankings as No. 3 in RBI (22), No. 4 in doubles (6) and No. 5 in total bases (49).

Before coming to Aggieland he spent two seasons at Arizona State with Ford, specifically working with the outfielders.

Eric Leyba

Eric Leyba joined the softball program in June 2023 as an assistant coach. Leyba comes to Aggieland after spending the previous five seasons at Oregon State working with the infielders and hitters.

In 2023, Leyba coached infielders Frankie Hammoude and Kaiea Higa to All-Pac 12 Third Team and Pac 12 All-Freshman honors, respectively.

Leyba helped lead the Beavers to one of the best seasons in program history in 2022. Oregon State finished with a 39-22 record and a trip to the Women’s College World Series for the second time in school annals and the first since 2006. Under Leyba’s guidance, Hammoude was named to the NFCA All-Pacific Region First Team as a junior and earned back-to-back All-Pac 12 First Team recognition.

Morgan Seymour

Morgan Seymour joined the Aggie softball staff as the program’s director of operations in July 2022.

Seymour comes to Aggieland after serving as the assistant director of athletics for program and student experience at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. While at Mercersburg, she managed the scheduling of competition, made travel arrangements and facilitated the staffing needs for home events.

Working in professional softball for nearly four years, Seymour served as the director of softball operations for Scrap Yard Fast Pitch, as well as the event manager for the Scrap Yard Sports Complex from 2016-2020. With the organization, Seymour assisted with tournament and team operations.

In 2021, Seymour returned to her alma mater as an assistant softball coach at Wesley College, where she was tasked with executing practice plans, as well as creating individual player development drills. As a member of the coaching staff, she was recognized with the Atlantic East Conference Coaching Staff of the Year award.

A field hockey and softball student-athlete at Wesley College, Seymour earned her bachelor’s degree in sports management from Wesley College in 2017.

Easton Herring

Easton Herring joined head coach Trisha Ford’s staff as director of player development in October 2025. He arrived in Aggieland following coaching stints at Wichita State, Austin Peay and Virginia Tech.

Herring spent two seasons at Wichita State as an assistant coach, specializing on the defensive side. During his tenure with the Shockers, he helped develop four All-Conference First Team selections and assisted the program in reaching the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game in 2024.

Prior to Wichita State, Herring served as defensive coach and assistant coach at Austin Peay before joining nationally ranked Virginia Tech as a volunteer assistant, catching and outfield coordinator and first base coach in 2022.

During his season at Virginia Tech, Herring developed scouting reports for the Top 10-ranked Hokies, who finished 46-10 with 14 wins over Top 25 opponents and hosted both an NCAA Regional and Super Regional. The Hokies also placed a conference-high 11 players on the All-Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

Before his time at Virginia Tech, Herring spent one season as a volunteer assistant at Wichita State, serving as the catching and outfield coordinator.

Halle Harger

Halle Harger joined Coach Ford’s staff as the recruiting coordinator in July 2023. Her main duties include organizing and facilitating travel, hotel and event accommodations for unofficial and official visits for recruits, as well as managing recruiting camps and mailing out Texas A&M information to potential student-athletes.

Harger comes to Aggieland from Arizona State where she was an infielder for the Sun Devil softball team from 2020-23. She finished her time in Tempe with a .273 batting average, while starting 54 of the 78 games she appeared in. In 2022, Harger helped lead the Sun Devils to an NCAA Super Regionals that included a Pac-12 title and a program-record 20 wins in league action.

Prior to her three seasons at Arizona State, Harger began her collegiate career at Boise State where she helped lead the Broncos to a Mountain West Championship in 2018.

A two-time graduate of Arizona State, Harger earned a health science bachelor’s degree in May 2021 and a communication master’s degree in December 2022.

Gianna Mancha