Ashley Hickman

Head Coach

Coach Ashley Hickman will be entering her second year with the Mustangs.

Throughout her coaching career, Hickman has coached four All-Americans and 18 conference players. Hickman has had success at the NAIA to the NCAA level. After one year of being the assistant coach for Upper Iowa, she was promoted to Head Coach for the Peacocks in July of 2019. In her second year as a Head Coach at UIU, she doubled her wins, while emphasizing strong academics, and finished the year with a 3.8 GPA.

Prior to arriving in Fayette, IA, Hickman spent four seasons (2015-2018) as the head softball coach at McPherson College in McPherson, KS. She would break a 17-year losing record streak while steering the Bulldogs to back-to-back winning seasons in her last two years and would go on to the KCAC Softball Championship Tournament. She would also set the school record of wins with 26 (2017) and 27 (2018), and went from 12th to 6th in the conference standings.

In the 2018 campaign, the Bulldogs recorded a 3-1 record against teams ranked in the top-25 under Hickman's instruction. With Hickman's guidance and leadership, six of her student-athletes were named to All-KCAC teams including two first-team players and one being recognized on the NFCA NAIA All-Region III first-team.

Before her tenure at McPherson, Hickman spent two years as a graduate assistant for the Tabor College Blue Jays, working with the pitching and catching tandem, the infielders, and focused her recruiting on out-of-state recruits. Under Hickman's direction, two players received All-Conference honors in 2013 and three players in 2014.

As a player, Hickman spent two seasons pitching for the Jayhawks at the University of Kansas, recording 18 strikeouts over 43.2 innings of work. Before her time at Kansas, Hickman played two seasons at Cowley County Community College, where she was a two-time NJCAA All-American and won the Jayhawk East Conference MVP in 2010. Hickman is originally from Weir, KS. She is married to, Billy, the Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach for Mustang football. Together, they have two sons, Bo & Bear.