HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University Department of Athletics has tapped former Temple coach Joe DiPietro to be the next head coach of the softball program, giving him the keys to a program that has won 63 games over the past two seasons and the 2013 MEAC Tournament championship.

DiPietro was most recently the head softball coach at Temple for five years, and in that span, he won 115 games. Temple increased its win total in each of his five seasons (the only program at the school to do so), culminating in a school-record 32 wins in 2013. The Owls finished third in the conference tournament, and they set school and A-10 records with 94 home runs – a number that also paced all of Div. I.

Temple made three consecutive conference tournament appearances under DiPietro.

The 2012 season saw the Owls win 27 games and pick up the third seed in the A-10 Tournament after a mark of 12-6 in conference play. Temple also went 12-6 in league play in 2011, finishing fourth in the A-10 in the regular season and winning 22 games in total.

After winning 15 games in DiPietro’s first season, 2009, Temple won 19 games in 2010.

In 2013, Stephanie Pasquale became the first Temple player ever to receive All-America honors when she was named to the NFCA Div. I Third Team. She was also the A-10 Player of the Year in DiPietro’s last season, after being a First Team All-Conference selection in 2012.

Pasquale was also the A-10 Rookie of the Year in 2011.

Other players to earn all-conference honors under DiPietro’s tutelage were Sarah Prezioso (First Team in 2012 and 2013, Second Team in 2011), Ali Robinson (Second Team in 2013), Rachel Knable (Second Team in 2011), Danielle Fagan (Second Team in 2010), Kelsey Dominik (All-Rookie in 2013), Annie Marcopolus (All-Rookie in 2013), and Krystle Metzler (All-Rookie in 2009).

Prior to his stint at Temple, DiPietro spent six years as the head coach at La Salle, where he won a combined 77 games – including 22 in 2008. Those 22 wins are the most the Explorers have won in a single season since 1997.

Before his career as a collegiate head coach, DiPietro spent 25 years coaching softball at Camden Catholic High School in New Jersey – where he spent the last 15 years as the head coach. He went 274-98 at Camden Catholic, winning three consecutive state titles (1991-93).

DiPietro was named South Jersey Softball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1991, and this past April, he was inducted into the Camden Catholic Hall of Fame.

DiPietro, who graduated from Gloucester County College and Camden Catholic, has also coached with the Philadelphia Force of the National Pro Fastpitch League, the South Jersey Hurricanes Amateur Softball Association 18-and-under tournament team and the All-Star Trophies ASA Class A tournament team.