Joe Morabito Named Assistant Softball Coach
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July 17, 2013
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–Joe Morabito has been named an assistant coach with the Virginia softball team, head coach Blake Miller announced Wednesday (July 17). Morabito will work primarily with the Cavalier hitters and outfielders.
“Joe brings a strong sense of aggressiveness to our program,” Miller said. “He is very fundamentally strong, has won championships and been very successful at every level he has been at. I think it is important to surround this program with winners and successful individuals as we build an aggressive culture.”
Morabito worked with the North Florida Community College softball team from 2000-07, serving as an assistant from 2000-03 and as head coach from 2004-07. He helped turned the Sentinel program around from a 13-37 season in 2001 to a 37-13 record the next year. The Sentinels went on to win the Panhandle Conference, Gulf District and state championships and finished eighth in the NJCAA World Series in 2003.
“To have an opportunity to work at the University of Virginia is unbelievable,” Morabito said. “I’ve known Blake a long time as we coached against each other and had a great mutual respect for each other because we attack the game the same way. I’m going to bring a blue-collar, hard-working attitude to the program. Both Blake and I are similar in that we’re both offensively minded and incredibly aggressive in our approach to the game. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
During his tenure at NFCC, Morabito led nationally-ranked Sentinel squads to single-season school records in wins (47 in 2004), along with guiding the team to new offensive records, including home runs and runs scored.
After his time in Madison, Fla., Morabito served in the United States Navy from 2007-11, earning an U.S. Army Commendation Medal. Qualified in expeditionary warfare, Morabito is an Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran and served on task unit support for Seal Team 7.
The past two years, Morabito has served as the head baseball coach at Orange County High School.
Morabito graduated from Thomas University (Thomasville, Ga.) in 1999 with a degree in criminal justice. Morabito played for the Nighthawks as a pitcher and helped lead the team to its first national ranking and first regional appearance. Morabito earned his master’s degree in education from Trident University International in 2012.
Morabito is married to the former Kelley Jenkins and the couple has one son, Nico.