Mario Hernandez joined the Osprey staff as an assistant coach the summer of 2023 after serving as the assistant coach for Western Kentucky.
During his second season in 2025, North Florida achieved new heights with the Ospreys finishing the season with their first ASUN regular season and tournament titles in program history. They went on to finish the season with a 47-15 overall record and a 22-2 ASUN record winning every series, as well as every game in the conference tournament. After being selected to the Columbia (S.C.) Regional hosted by South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, the Ospreys went on to beat second-seeded Virginia twice, including a walk-off win, to clinch the program's first-ever regional appearance as one of the final 32 teams in the postseason. He assisted Head Coach Jeff Conrad to his first-career ASUN Coach of the Year award in 2025.
Hernandez helped develop two-way superstar Allison Benning, who was named ASUN Player, Pitcher and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as well as a Second Team All-American by Softball America and D1Softball, CSC Second Team Academic All-American and Second Team NFCA All-Region. The senior also brought in the D1Softball Mid-Major Player of the Year award and was selected as the ASUN's nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. Benning earned five of the nine ASUN weekly honors, along with Softball America's National Player of the Week on Feb. 25. Seven total players were recognized with conference postseason awards, including Benning and Mackenzie Woods as First Team All-ASUN. After winning the conference tournament, four players were named to the ASUN All-Tournament Team with Benning being picked as Tournament MVP. Benning was also one home run away from achieving the first-ever season with 25 wins from the circle and 20 home runs from the plate.
In his first season as an assistant, he helped the team to a 35-19 overall record, as well as a 17-7 conference record, and a runner-up finish in the ASUN Championship tournament. He also assisted in developing five All-ASUN selections in 2024, including First Team & Second Team honoree Allison Benning as a two-way player, as well as Hadlee Reichert and Shannon Glover as Second & Third Team All-ASUN selections.
While at WKU, helped the team to a 30-24 overall record, including a 14-9 record in C-USA play. Before his time with the Hilltoppers, he resided in the city of Jacksonville after spending the 2020 season as the volunteer assistant coach at JU, where he helped the team to a 15-11 record after the season was cut short due to COVID-19. He was also the assistant coach at Tennessee Tech in 2022 and the assistant coach turned interim head coach of Valparaiso in 2021.
In between his time at Jacksonville and Valparaiso, he was the head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast Summer Collegiate League during the summer of 2020. He was selected as one of three coaches to coach against the USSSA Pride professional team.
Hernandez had a few stops before reaching the collegiate softball level, as he was the Illinois Hawks' head coach and president of softball from 2014-2019, followed by a one-year stint as an assistant softball coach with Plainfield North HS. He also was the head coach of the SouthSide Rage Baseball Organization from 2012-14 while he was playing collegiate baseball.
Before playing three years of semi-pro baseball in the Chicago Suburban Baseball League, Hernandez attended Moraine Valley CC and University of St. Francis during his collegiate playing career from 2011-2015. He was an All-Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference First Team selection and a team captain for both universities.
He returned to school in 2020 at Walden University to graduate with his bachelor's of business administration with summa cum laude honors in 2021.
