Patrick Catullo named director of athletics
2 min read
Catullo was appointed after a series of open forums. (umw.edu)
By Mary Foster
Staff Writer
Last Wednesday, the University of Mary Washington officially named Patrick Catullo ’95 as the University’s new director of athletics.
In his newly-official role, Catullo plans to “continue to align with the strategic vision of the university to recruit and retain highly qualified and diverse students, address aging facilities, and navigate the changing conference landscape.” He said, “Working towards solutions that provide a meaningful and memorable experience for the students has our daily attention.”
Catullo has served as interim director of athletics since summer 2018. Catullo earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMW in 1995. He was head coach of UMW’s women’s tennis team from 2004-2018. In 2014, Catullo repeated “as State Coach of the Year after leading Mary Washington to the 2014 NCAA Tournament third round with an 18-8 record,” according to a June 9, 2014 post to VASID, the official site of Virginia sports information directors. This award and the success of the team that lead to it, is but one example of the women’s tennis team’s impressive record under the coaching of Catullo. Head women’s tennis coach, is but one of the many hats Patrick Catullo has worn as a part of the UMW community, however.
Catullo also served as the university’s assistant director of athletics and the director of compliance from 2012-2018. In his newly-official role, as director of athletics, Catullo will be overseeing all 23 varsity sports and two of the university’s club sports, men and women’s rugby. Catullo will oversee 14 full-time head coaches that hold faculty status, according to the 2019 Director of Athletics Prospectus.
The decision to appoint Catullo came after a series of open forums, student community surveys and interviews. Following the completed interview process, the decision was made on Feb. 5 and was relayed to the UMW community by UMW President Troy Paino via email. In that same email, Paino detailed Catullo’s extensive ties and history with the UMW and Fredericksburg communities, and the incredible UMW staff, faculty and alumni that made such a collaborative forum-style interview process possible for our UMW community. Many of those ties can be seen in Catullo’s past with the university.
“As a former student-athlete and coach, I’m really looking forward to continuing the important work we’ve already begun with UMW leadership, divisions across campus, the athletics staff and student-athletes,” said Catullo. “My deep connection to the University makes it very meaningful to serve in this role.”
