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University of Alabama head softball coach Patrick Murphy was born in Waterloo. His family moved to Fayette when he was in fifth grade. He was part of the last graduating class at Fayette High School in 1984.  His oldest sister, Kate, attended the University of Northern Iowa so that was a logical higher education choice for him. He wanted to be a teacher and coach.
The first thing he did at UNI was apply for work-study in the Panther sports information office. He says he was lucky enough to work with football, volleyball, basketball and softball for three years. It was his first taste of DI athletics and loved every minute of it. He also played every intramural sport offered and won a couple navy blue intramural champion T-shirts.
His involvement with softball has afforded him several international experiences. He was an assistant coach for Team Canada softball at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He stayed in the Athletes Village and says he had an incredible time over 34 days in Prague, Rome, Pisa and Athens before and during the Olympics. This past summer he was head coach for Team USA softball at a tournament in Maracay, Venezuela, bringing home a Gold Medal after playing 14 games in 12 days. In July he is traveling to Amsterdam to present a clinic for over 100 European softball coaches.
“All of this because of a great four-year experience at a learning environment like no other — The University of Northern Iowa,” he said.
What have you been doing professionally since you graduated from UNI?
I attended grad school at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette). I was a graduate assistant in sports information, working with every sport but mainly softball. I would come back to Iowa during the summer and coach high school baseball at Sumner and Independence. After my first year at USL, the assistant softball job came open and the head coach asked if I was interested in the position. It was $6,000, part-time and no benefits, so of course I said yes. I spent the next five years as an assistant coach, one year as interim head coach at Northwest Missouri State and the last 14 at the University of Alabama.
How did you become involved with softball?
My passion for softball and baseball started at an early age at family reunions in Dumont, Iowa. The entire family would play softball in the front yard (it was a huge yard) after dinner and it became the routine for every family outing. Four of my cousins were outstanding softball athletes so that also helped. My first job at USL was one of those ‘right place at the right time’ situations.
Describe your program’s success at Alabama.
Alabama first started softball in the spring of 1997. I was an assistant for two years before getting the head job. We started with nothing — no field, no uniforms, no equipment. It was very challenging but also very rewarding to start a brand-new program. Since 1999, we have been to 11 consecutive NCAA tournaments and six Women’s College World Series. We were ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in 2007 and then followed that up being No. 1 in 2008 and 2009. We finished third the past two seasons at the WCWS. We have sold out our stadium the past three years — a first for a DI softball program. Last year we averaged over 2,200 fans.
What do you miss about UNI and Cedar Falls?
I miss a lot about Iowa and the Cedar Valley. Who knew mile upon mile of corn fields could be so beautiful in the summer time? I miss Casey’s doughnuts and really good sweet corn! I don’t miss Iowa winters, however. I get home for about two weeks in the summer and two weeks at Christmas. My mom moved to Cedar Falls this fall and I was lucky enough to see two UNI men’s basketball games this year while on break. The friendliness of Iowans is still second to none.
Have you stayed in touch with UNI acquaintances?
A couple of my classmates were Bobbi Becker (Petersen), Mark Farley and Greg McDermott. Someone was doing something right in the coaching classes we were taking! To this day, if I email any of those three, I get a response every time. The same goes for Ben Jacobson. I’m also good friends with current UNI softball coach Ryan Jacobs who is doing a great job with Panther softball. Another classmate and student co-worker in the sports information office was current UNI Athletic Director Troy Dannen.
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