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Patrick Murphy (softball)

Patrick Murphy
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamAlabama
ConferenceSEC
Record1,277–375 (.773)
Biographical details
Born (1965-11-28) November 28, 1965 (age 58)
Waterloo, Iowa
Alma materUniversity of Northern Iowa
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990–1994Southwestern Louisiana (asst.)
1995Northwest Missouri State (interim HC)
1996–1998Alabama (asst.)
1999–presentAlabama
Head coaching record
Overall1,305–395 (.768)
TournamentsNCAA: 107–48 (.690)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year (2012)
  • 11× NFCA South Regional Coaching Staff of the Year (2000, 2003, 2006, 2008–2012, 2014, 2016, 2019)
  • SEC Coach of the Year (2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019)
  • Alabama Sports Hall of Fame

Patrick Stacy Murphy (born November 28, 1965) is an American softball coach and the current head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide softball team. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame on May 7, 2022—the first softball coach to be so honored.[1]

Early life and education

Murphy was born in Waterloo, Iowa, and raised in nearby Fayette.[2][3] Murphy graduated from Fayette High School and completed his B.S. in history education at the University of Northern Iowa in 1988.[3]

Coaching career

Early coaching career

While attending Northern Iowa, Murphy coached Little League baseball.[3] After graduating from college, Murphy became varsity baseball coach at Sumner High School in Sumner, Iowa, leading the team to a 22–3 record in his first season of 1989 and the state championship game in 1990.[3]

In 1990, Murphy began studies for a master's degree in communications at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and joined the Lady Cajuns softball team as an assistant coach, where he would stay until 1994. Simultaneously, he was also head baseball coach at Independence High School in Independence, Iowa, from 1992 to 1995.[3]

After one year as interim head softball coach at Division II Northwest Missouri State in 1995, Murphy moved up to the Division I collegiate level as an assistant coach at Alabama from 1996 to 1998.[3]

Alabama

Murphy built one of the most successful college softball programs, taking Alabama to thirteen Women's College World Series appearances (2000, '03, '05, '06, '08, '09, ‘11, '12, '14, '15, '16, '19, & '21) since 2000, which is only second in the NCAA to UCLA, having made 16 appearances in that span. He led the Crimson Tide to its first national championship in 2012. Murphy also served as the hitting coach for the Canadian National Team in the 2004 Olympics and as an assistant coach for the United States national softball team in the summer of 2009.

On June 9, 2011, Murphy announced that he was leaving Alabama to take the head coaching position at rival LSU.[4] Three days later, before signing a contract at LSU, he changed his mind and returned to Alabama— saying Alabama is "where his heart was".[5][6]

On March 9, 2018, Murphy reached his 1,000th career win, becoming only the 38th coach to reach 1,000 wins.[7] At 20 seasons coaching, Murphy reached 1,000 wins faster than any other coach.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) (1995)
1995 Northwest Missouri State 28–20* 7–9
Northwest Missouri State: 28–20 (.583) 7–9 (.438)

*Interim head coach.[8]

Alabama Crimson Tide (Southeastern Conference) (1999–Present)
1999 Alabama 39–26 19–11 2nd (West) NCAA Regional
2000 Alabama 66–14 25–5 2nd (West) Women's College World Series
2001 Alabama 50–11 24–6 2nd (West) NCAA Regional
2002 Alabama 46–21 22–8 2nd (West) NCAA Regional
2003 Alabama 49–21 22–8 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2004 Alabama 45–20 18–12 3rd (West) NCAA Regional
2005 Alabama 63–15 23–7 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2006 Alabama 54–11 25–4 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2007 Alabama 55–10 21–6 2nd (West) NCAA Super Regional
2008 Alabama 58–8 25–3 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2009 Alabama 54–11 21–6 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2010 Alabama 52–11 23–4 1st (West) NCAA Super Regional
2011 Alabama 53–11 19–6 1st (West) Women's College World Series
2012 Alabama 60–8 23–5 1st (West) Women's College World Series Champion
2013 Alabama 45–15 13–11 3rd (West) NCAA Super Regional
2014 Alabama 53–13 19–5 1st Women's College World Series Runner-Up
2015 Alabama 48–15 17–7 3rd Women's College World Series
2016 Alabama 51–14 16–8 5th Women's College World Series
2017 Alabama 46–18 12–11 5th NCAA Super Regional
2018 Alabama 36–20 12–12 T-7th NCAA Super Regional
2019 Alabama 60–10 18–6 1st Women's College World Series
2020 Alabama 14–8[a] 2–1 Postseason not held
2021 Alabama 52–9 18–6 3rd Women's College World Series
2022 Alabama 44–13 16–8 2nd NCAA Regional
2023 Alabama 45–22 14–10 5th Women's College World Series
2024 Alabama 39–20 10–14 9th Women's College World Series
Alabama: 1,277–375 (.773) 477–190 (.715)
Total: 1,305–395 (.768)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

  1. ^ The season was not played past March 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Academic degrees

  • Northern Iowa, 1988 B.S. in History Education
  • University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), 1992, M.S. in Mass Communication

See also

References

  1. ^ WBRC Staff (2022-05-08). "Patrick Murphy first softball coach inducted to Alabama Sports Hall of Fame". WBRC-TV. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  2. ^ Hays, Graham (March 12, 2013). "Coach traces softball roots to Iowa". ESPNW. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Head Coach Patrick Murphy" (PDF). 2008 Alabama Softball. University of Alabama. 2008. pp. 22–23.
  4. ^ "Murphy Introduced as LSU Softball Coach". LSUSports.net. June 11, 2011.
  5. ^ "Murphy, Habetz Head Back to 'Bama Softball". ultoday.com. June 13, 2008. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
  6. ^ Kleinpeter, Jim (June 13, 2011). "LSU softball: Patrick Murphy reneges, returns to Alabama". The Times-Picayune.
  7. ^ Sabin, Rainer (March 9, 2018). "Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy gets 1,000th win with Crimson Tide". AL.com.
  8. ^ "Softball Year-by Year Results". Northwest Missouri State University. Retrieved March 3, 2024.

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