Title: Head coach, University of Alabama
Sport: Fastpitch Softball
Career Record: 715-210

In today’s world of collegiate athletics, where coaches change jobs and take on new programs with increasing regularity, not many can claim to have been there at the beginning. Not many can say they were there at the origin of a program, having been there from the very inception to where it stands today. And certainly nobody can claim to have brought a program further, and in shorter time, than Crimson Tide head softball coach Patrick Murphy.

Now in his 14th season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, Murphy has turned his program into an absolute model of consistency, having guided Alabama to 13 consecutive NCAA tournaments, including appearances in the 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011 Women’s College World Series.

From a humble start to becoming a model of success and consistency, Murphy has taken Alabama to the top of the college softball world. Beginning with his days as an assistant in the very first years of the Alabama softball program, Murphy has been the face of a team that has grown under his leadership to become one of the most consistently successful programs in the nation.

The individual honors are just as impressive. Tide players have earned All-American honors no fewer than 65 times under Murphy’s watch. As of 2010, he has tutored over 60 All-SEC performers and over 44 All-Region honorees. His teams have been just as successful in the classroom, with eight Academic All-Americans and 126 All-SEC Academic selections to his credit.

Even more impressively, Murphy has led the program to a surge of popularity among Tide fans. Alabama has become a regular atop the nation’s attendance standings, with an ever-growing group of loyal fans who fill the stands at Rhoads Stadium throughout the season. The 2008 campaign was a sellout, setting a new benchmark in season tickets sold with more than 1,200 going to loyal fans. The 2009 season Alabama broke the single season attendance record formerly held by Fresno State. Those numbers are what every softball coach in the nation would do anything to achieve and stand as a tribute both to what Murphy and his team have achieved and to the willingness of Tide fans to support a program that does things right, both on and off the field.

Since taking over prior to the 1999 season, he has compiled a winning record in all 11 seasons. He has won 45 or more games in each of the past ten years with a program-best 66 victories in 2000 and 63 wins in 2005. Murphy has also won over 20 games in conference play in 11 of his 13 seasons in the SEC. The 2008 campaign marked the third time he had posted 25 conference victories, matching the win totals from the 2006 and 2000 seasons.

Murphy’s ability to build and maintain the impressive level of consistency places him among the nation’s elite. He has a career mark of 712-210 in 14 seasons, including one year at Northwest Missouri State.

It is his desire for perfection that has led the Tide to the upper echelon of the softball world. Murphy’s desire and hard-nosed work ethic has led the Tide program to as high as No. 1 in the national rankings, reached for the first time in program history during the 2007 regular season and continued through the 2009 season. The Tide has finished ranked in the top 10 in the final polls in each of the past six campaigns. The 2010 squad earned the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament after finishing the season on a 21 game winning streak, in which the Tide captured both the SEC regular season and tournament titles.

At every school where he has coached, Murphy has proven himself to be a leader capable of recruiting and developing talented players who perform on the field and in the classroom. Combining that with the lure of athletic tradition at Alabama and the nation’s finest facilities, the Crimson Tide softball team remains poised to be among the nation’s best for the foreseeable future.