ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Joe DiPietro has been named the head softball coach at Central Washington University, CWU Director of Athletics Dr. Dennis Francois announced on November 2.

"Coach DiPietro comes to Central with a plethora of head coach experience at a very high level," Dr. Francois said. "I am excited to have him join the Wildcat family and eager to see our softball program flourish under his leadership — in competition, the classroom, and our community."

DiPietro comes to Central Washington with 18 years of Division I experience. He has compiled 259 wins over his head coaching career.

"I want to thank Dr. Francois, Laura Dahlby Nicolai and the search committee," DiPietro said. "I am grateful for the opportunity and I am looking forward to getting to know the players and building chemistry. I'm excited to take the program to the next level."

Prior to joining CWU, DiPietro spent four years at the University of Incarnate Word where he was named the 12th head coach in program history.  He spent the previous season as an assistant coach at Drexel University before joining UIW.

While at Hampton University, DiPietro served as the head softball coach. In his first season with the Pirates, DiPietro won 22 games and led Hampton to an 11-6 mark in conference play. Behind the performances of First Team All-MEAC performers Margaret Wilkins and Allyson Babinsack, the Lady Pirates were the Northern Division's No. 3 seed in the MEAC Tournament, and they advanced to the far end of the consolation bracket, falling just one game shy of the championship game.

DiPietro spent five seasons as the head coach of Temple University in Philadelphia, where the Owls won 115 games in that span. The softball team was the only program at the school to increase their win total every season. The Owls made three consecutive conference tournament appearances, culminated by a school-record 32 wins in 2013. They hit an NCAA-leading 94 home runs in '13 and had the program's first-ever NFCA All-American, Stephanie Pasquale. She also earned NFCA Northeast First All-Region and was named the Atlantic10 Conference Player of the Year.

Prior to his time at Temple, DiPietro spent six seasons at another Philly school in La Salle University, where he led the Explorers to 22 wins in 2008, the most wins by the program in the previous 15 years.

DiPietro was inducted into the New Jersey Softball Hall of Fame in May 2014, a month after being inducted into the Camden Catholic High School Hall of Fame. He also spent stints as a USA Select Team head coach. In 2010, he led his USA Select Team in an undefeated run at the Blacktown Cup Challenge in Sydney, Australia. He more recently skippered a USA Select Team in a tour across northern Italy in 2018.

He spent two seasons with the Philadelphia Force of the NPF (National Professional Fastpitch) from 2007-08, starting as an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach.

Off the field, DiPietro's teams have posted a GPA of 3.0 or better for the last 18 years. In 2020, UIW recorded over 800 hours of community service.