First-year UConn head coach Laura Valentino has filled out her coaching staff with the hirings of Christie Novatin and Jessica Jacobson as assistants coaches.
Novatin spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Princeton, helping lead the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League championships in 2016 and ’17. A former teammate of Valentino’s at Hofstra during her playing days, Novatin’s coaching resume also includes stints as an assistant at Albany, Rider, and Georgian Court College. She appeared in three NCAA tournaments during her playing days at Hofstra.
Set to be the Huskies’ new pitching coach, Jacobson spent nine years as the pitching coach at Elon, helping lead the program to the status of frequent contenders in the Colonial Athletic Association. She coached the only Phoenix pair of pitchers in program history to throw perfect games. A College of New Jersey graduate, Jacobson’s coaching resume includes stops as an assistant coach at Saint Peter’s, New Haven, and Drew University.
Pattie Ruth Taylor has also been named the Huskies’ volunteer assistant coach. Taylor finished her playing career at Middle Tennessee State in 2018 after four years in the pitching circle for the Blue Raiders. Taylor appeared in sixty-four games for MTSU after beginning her career at Radford College, where she spent her true freshman season but did not play due to injury.
​Valentino was named the Huskies’ head coach earlier in July, and takes over a squad that went 21-29 overall during the 2019 season, with an 8-13 record in conference play.
