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
| 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. | ||||||
| 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 | 29–8 | 6–6 | ||||||
| Alabama: | 1267–363 (.777) | 473–182 (.722) | |||||||
| Total: | 1295–383 (.772) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
- ^ 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
- List of college softball coaches with 1,000 wins
- National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame
References
- ^ WBRC Staff (2022-05-08). "Patrick Murphy first softball coach inducted to Alabama Sports Hall of Fame". WBRC-TV. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- ^ Hays, Graham (March 12, 2013). "Coach traces softball roots to Iowa". ESPNW. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "Head Coach Patrick Murphy" (PDF). 2008 Alabama Softball. University of Alabama. 2008. pp. 22–23.
- ^ "Murphy Introduced as LSU Softball Coach". LSUSports.net. June 11, 2011.
- ^ "Murphy, Habetz Head Back to 'Bama Softball". ultoday.com. June 13, 2008. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
- ^ Kleinpeter, Jim (June 13, 2011). "LSU softball: Patrick Murphy reneges, returns to Alabama". The Times-Picayune.
- ^ Sabin, Rainer (March 9, 2018). "Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy gets 1,000th win with Crimson Tide". AL.com.
- ^ "Softball Year-by Year Results". Northwest Missouri State University. Retrieved March 3, 2024.