Tennessee promotes Aubrey Leach-Gartner to assistant coach

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee has promoted Aubrey Leach-Gartner from director of player development to assistant coach, head coach Karen Weekly announced Monday.

Leach-Gartner spent the past two seasons as Tennessee’s director of player development, a stretch that included 96 wins and back-to-back trips to the Women’s College World Series semifinals in 2025 and 2026.

“Aubrey is one of the brightest young minds in the game,” Weekly said. “We are blessed that she chose to make Tennessee her home in 2016 as a freshman in our Lady Vol program. It has been such a joy to watch her career progress from college player to professional player and now a college coach. Our young women have benefited greatly from her expertise and mentorship through the years, and our student-athletes are ecstatic about continuing to work with Aubrey.”

Before taking over player development, Leach-Gartner spent three seasons as a graduate assistant while finishing her juris doctor. A standout for the Lady Vols from 2016 to 2019, she still ranks second in school history in both runs scored (253) and career on-base percentage (.503). She also earned NFCA All-America honors twice.

She has spent the past seven seasons in Athletes Unlimited and currently plays for the Carolina Blaze in the AUSL. Leach-Gartner is also a part of USA Softball Women’s National Team pool. She has helped them to multiple gold medals, which include the 2022 WBSC Pan American Championships, where she earned tournament MVP.

“Tennessee softball is home, and there is no place I would rather be,” Leach-Gartner said. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to continue pushing the Lady Vol legacy into the future. I cannot thank Karen enough for believing in me as a player and now as an assistant coach.”

She is the epitome of a Lady Vol for Life, and sets a hard-working standard for the student-athletes at Tennessee. On top of coaching, she continues to excel professionally. She was one of five players the Carolina Blaze protected ahead of the AUSL expansion draft, as general manager Dana Sorensen made sure to keep her in Carolina.

“Aubrey Leach is a phenomenal second baseman,” Sorensen said. “She can play center field, left field, right field.”

Karlyn Pickens has been around Leach-Gartner for years during her time at Tennessee. Now she is her teammate in Carolina.

“I have looked forward to getting to actually play with her and have her behind me, so that was always special, just hearing her back there giving me little pointers,” Pickens said. “She has a great mind when it comes to the game, just super high IQ. Gives me things that I might not think of, so it’s cool to have her back there.”

Speaking after a recent game, Leach-Gartner was asked how she balanced her role at Tennessee, who made a Women’s College World Series appearance, and jumping right into playing in the AUSL.

“Just being surrounded by good softball, wanting to get our players every day to see something in themselves improve,” Leach-Gartner said. “And I take that into my preparation as well. I try to challenge myself as much as I can in the coaching space. Then as soon as we got to training camp, I hit the ground running.”

This is a well-deserved promotion for Leach-Gartner, and one that was destined to happen.