Patrick Is Among National Finalists

Alabama head softball coach Patrick Murphy was one of 14 coaches selected to the 2009 U.S. Women’s National Team coaching pool the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) and USA Softball announced today. By being selected to the pool of 14 it makes Murphy a candidate to become the next head coach of Team USA.

“It is an exciting opportunity,” Murphy said. “It is bittersweet though with (former Alabama star) Kelly (Kretschman) retiring and with no Olympics. The most exciting thing is that we get to play the World Championships in our own country at Oklahoma City.”

Murphy has international coaching experience to his credit. The coach, who is entering his 11th season at the helm of the Crimson Tide was an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

The coaches have been selected for the 2009-2012 quadrennium and are responsible for the training and preparation for the Women’s National team program. The head coach selection will be announced at a later date.

Murphy joins former Alabama assistant coach Karen Johns, Suzy Brazney of Golden West (Calif.) College, Chuck D’Arcy of Sacramento, Calif., Kate Drohan of Northwestern, Gordon Eakin of BYU, Ken Eriksen of South Florida, Stacy Iveson of Yavapai (Ariz.) College, Barbara Jordan of Cal-Northridge, Michael Larabee of Wright State, Jay Miller of Mississippi State, Jamie Pinkerton of Arkansas, Shawn Rychcik of Boston University and Scott Whitlock of Kennesaw State in the U.S. coaching pool.