Jimmy Kolaitis Named New UAB Head Coach
UAB hired Jimmy Kolaitis to be the new Head Coach of the Blazers program on Saturday. Justin McLeod of Justin’s World was the first to break the story. Kolaitis has been at Oregon as an assistant coach since 2014 running the Ducks offense, which has been among the nations best, as Oregon won Pac 12 Championships in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
Kolaitis replaces Amanda Ellis, who served as interim Head Coach this past season after longtime Head Coach Marla Townsend retired on August 7, 2017, to take an administration position at UAB. The Blazers went 26-32-1 in 2018.
Before Oregon, Kolaitis was an assistant coach at South Alabama, where he worked as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for five seasons before joining the Ducks.
While Kolaitis was at South Alabama, the Jaguars posted a 174-95-1 record and averaged 40 wins per season over the last three years, never finishing worse than third in the Sun Belt Conference. Kolaitis started at South Alabama in 2009, just two years after the program was first created in 2007. His best season was in 2012, when South Alabama posted a 17-3 conference record, winning both the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles, before hosting a NCAA Regional. The Jaguars earned their first ever top-25 ranking in 2012.
The Blazers are hoping Kolaitis can bring the same success he helped create at South Alabama and Oregon to Birmingham.
