Patrick Stacy Murphy (born November 28, 1965) is an American
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
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, 2022the first softball coach to be so honored.
Early life and education
Murphy was born in
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Fall ...
, and raised in nearby Fayette. Murphy graduated from Fayette High School and completed his B.S. in history education at the
University of Northern Iowa
The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gr ...
in 1988.
Coaching career
Early coaching career
While attending Northern Iowa, Murphy coached
Little League baseball
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization 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.
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
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...
) 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.
After one year as interim head softball coach at Division II
Northwest Missouri State
Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...
in 1995, Murphy moved up to the Division I collegiate level as an assistant coach at
college softball
College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is n ...
programs, taking Alabama to eleven
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...
appearances (2000, '03, '05, '06, '08, '09, ‘11, '12, '14, '15 & '16) since 2000, which ties for first in the NCAA along with
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
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. Three days later, before signing a contract at LSU, he changed his mind and returned to Alabama— saying Alabama is "where his heart was".
On March 9, 2018, Murphy reached his 1,000th career win, becoming only the 38th coach to reach 1,000 wins. At 20 seasons coaching, Murphy reached 1,000 wins faster than any other coach.
Head coaching record
*Interim head coach.
Academic degrees
*Northern Iowa, 1988 B.S. in History Education
*Southwestern Louisiana, 1992, M.S. in Mass Communication
See also
*
List of college softball coaches with 1,000 wins
This is a list of college softball coaches with 1,000 wins as a collegiate head coach. This list includes games won at the NCAA levels. It does not include games won at the junior college level. Coaches with 1,000 wins at the NCAA Division I level ...