Just three days after he was named LSU’s newest softball coach, Patrick Murphy has decided to remain Alabama’s head coach. The three time SEC championship-winning coach would have replaced Yvette Girouard, who retired at the end of the season.
LSU has since re-opened the coaching search.
Murphy previously worked under Girouard from 1990 to 1994, when he was an assistant coach at UL-Lafayette. He then became interim head coach of Northwest Missouri State University and was soon after hired at Alabama in 1996, working his way up to head coach in 1999.
At Alabama, Murphy built one of the most successful softball teams in the SEC and the nation, taking Crimson Tide softball to seven Women’s College World Series appearances and 684 wins.
LSU hired Girouard in 2001, replacing Glenn Moore, who is currently the head coach at Baylor. At LSU, Girouard also set up a successful team that had two third place finishes in the NCAA World Series, three SEC Championships, four SEC tournament championships and 407 wins over ten years. Her LSU teams were also the SEC runners-up in 2003 and 2006.
Midway through the 2011 season, Girouard announced her retirement. LSU finished the year with a 40-18 record, losing to the Texas A&M Aggies in the NCAA Regional. Girouard plans to become a softball analyst for ESPN.
On June 9, Athletics Director Joe Alleva announced Murphy as LSU’s new head softball coach. Alleva said he was happy with the pick.
“When Yvette retired, we lost a Hall of Fame coach,” he said, “We feel like we are replacing Yvette with a future Hall of