AILEEN MORALES AT A GLANCE
Full name: Aileen Rae Morales
Birthdate: April 5, 1987
Hometown: Columbus, Ga. (Hardaway, H.S.)
Twitter: @Coach_A_Mo
Instagram: @aileen_morales22
Education:
Bachelor’s: Georgia Tech (business management, 2009)
Master’s: Georgia Southern (sport management, 2013)
Playing Experience (2B/SS):
2005-08: Georgia Tech
2007-10: Puerto Rico National Team
2008-09: Chicago Bandits (National Pro Fastpitch)
Coaching Experience:
2009: Student Assistant, Georgia Tech
2010-13: Assistant Coach, Georgia Tech
2012: Assistant Coach, Puerto Rico National Team
2014-15: Head Coach, Young Harris (two seasons – 51-51 overall)
2016-17: Head Coach, Radford (two seasons – 62-54 overall)
Present: Head Coach, Georgia Tech
Aileen Morales, one of the most decorated student-athletes in Georgia Tech softball history and a former highly successful assistant coach at her alma mater, returned to The Flats as the program’s sixth head coach on June 7, 2017. She’ll enter her seventh season in 2024.
Morales made her own history in her sixth season leading the Yellow Jackets, surpassing 150 wins as a head coach at Georgia Tech with 155 and 250 victories in her career with 268, remaining the fourth-winningest coach in softball history on The Flats. In conference wins, Morales also eclipsed 50, moving to 55, with a win over Virginia as she owns the second-best mark in program history. In terms of win percentages, Morales remains third in program history both overall at .535 and in ACC play at .426. As a unit, the Yellow Jackets earned a win in the ACC tournament for the fourth consecutive year as they went 26-27 overall, including a 7-17 conference record. The squad was among the nation’s best defensively, turning in a .978 fielding percentage to rank 11th in the nation and second in the ACC.
In her fifth season on The Flats, Morales brought the Yellow Jackets back to national prominence by reaching their first NCAA Regional since 2012 and 12th in program history, earning a win in the first round. To get there, she led the White and Gold to a 38-18 overall record for the most wins and nonconference wins (27) since 2011. Tech’s 84.4 nonconference win percentage and 24 home wins were also program bests. Morales’ Jackets achieved a final RPI of No. 23, the highest since 2011 after tallying the eighth most wins and the 10th best win percentage all-time. Tech picked up a pair of ranked victories, including a thriller over Notre Dame and a mercy-rule triumph over Georgia marking the Jackets’ largest margin of victory over the Bulldogs, their first win in the series since 2012 and the first on the road since 2007. Statistically, Morales guided Tech to rank fifth in the nation and second in the conference in walks as well as third in program history with a .395 on-base percentage. Georgia Tech also stood firm defensively to place second in the ACC and in single-season program history with a .975 fielding percentage. The Yellow Jackets went 6-0 against in-state opponents, compiling nine mercy rule wins and eight shutouts on the year. Morales also guided individual standouts to three all-ACC honors and two all-region selections on the way to one of the top turnarounds as a team in the country. On Feb. 22, Morales also earned her 100th win as head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
Tech returned to action in full capacity following the abbreviated 2020 year for Morales’ fourth season on The Flats as the White and Gold finished 20-26 in the quarterfinal round of the ACC tournament. Morales achieved her 200th career win as a head coach during the season, also being selected into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame as a member of the 2021 class for her playing career.
Year three for Morales was cut short due to Covid-19 as the Jackets remained above .500 at 12-11.
Morales followed her first season with more success in her second, coaching the team to its first ACC tournament win since 2012 with a decisive 8-0, five-inning run-rule win over Virginia in the opening round. She brought Tech over the 30 win mark for the first time since 2012, finishing with a 31-27 record, including the program’s 1,000th win.
In her first year at the helm of the Georgia Tech softball program, Morales led the Jackets to their first postseason appearance since 2014. Tech recorded five ACC series wins for the first time since 2011, finishing sixth in the ACC. With 28 wins on the season, Tech surpassed with 25-win mark for the first time since 2013 and finished above .500 for the first time since 2012.
In her nine seasons as a student-athlete (2005-08) and assistant coach (2009-13) at Georgia Tech, she helped lead the Yellow Jackets to four Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championships (2005, 2009-11), four ACC Tournament titles (2005, 2009-10, 2012), eight NCAA regionals (2005-12) and an NCAA Super Regional (2009). The Jackets averaged 43 wins per season during her nine years with the program.
Since leaving her alma mater following the 2013 campaign, she has added four seasons as a successful head coach to her resume, first at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Ga. (2014-15) and most recently at Radford University in Radford, Va. (2016-17).
After inheriting a program that won just 12 games in 2015, Morales engineered the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I softball when she led Radford to a 35-26 record in her first season at the helm in ’16. The Highlanders also climbed 96 spots in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) in her first season at the school, advanced to the Big South Tournament semifinals with their first postseason wins in four years and boasted two all-conference honorees.
Prior to her two-year stint at Radford, Morales compiled 51 wins in two seasons at the helm at Young Harris.
Morales began her full-time coaching career as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech from 2010-13. During that four-year stint, she helped lead the Yellow Jackets to two ACC regular-season championships, two ACC Tournament titles and three NCAA regional appearances while coaching 19 all-conference selections, four ACC Players of the Year and three all-Americans.
She got her start in coaching as a student assistant coach for Tech in 2009, helping the Yellow Jackets to the most successful overall season in school history, a 46-15 campaign that included ACC regular-season and tournament championships and the program’s lone NCAA Super Regional appearance.
Morales arrived at Georgia Tech in January 2005 after graduating a semester early from Hardaway H.S. in Columbus, Ga. Despite beginning her collegiate career during what was scheduled to be her final high-school season, she hit .296 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 32 RBI and an ACC-best 44 stolen bases in 49 attempts as a freshman, en route to being named ACC co-Freshman of the Year and earning second-team all-conference recognition.
She went on to be a three-time all-ACC honoree as a middle infielder, earning first-team accolades as a junior and senior in 2007 and ’08, and was also a three-time all-region selection. She earned third-team all-America honors.
She remains Georgia Tech’s all-time leader in games played (265), starts (265), at-bats (850) and stolen bases (154) and ranks among the program’s top 10 in runs (second – 216), hits (third – 261), doubles (t-fifth – 43) and triples (t-fifth – 10). She also holds three of the top five single-season stolen base totals in school history, including a school-record 46 as a senior in 2008.
Over the course of Morales’ four-year playing career, Georgia Tech won 185 games, claimed the 2005 ACC regular-season and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA postseason four times.
Following the end of her collegiate playing career, she was selected by the Chicago Bandits in the second round of the 2008 National Pro Fastpitch Draft. She played two seasons with the Bandits and helped lead the squad to the NPF championship as a rookie in 2008.
She also boasts international experience as a player and coach with the Puerto Rican national team. She competed internationally for Puerto Rico from 2007-10 and served as an assistant coach for the 2012 squad that finished eighth at the International Softball Federation World Championship, PR’s best finish in more than a decade.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT AILEEN MORALES
“Aileen is a winner and Georgia Tech is where she wants to be. She will get the program back to competing on the national level very soon.”
Ehren Earleywine
Missouri head coach (Georgia Tech head coach – 2004-06)
“Aileen is one of the premier up-and-coming coaches in our sport. She was an outstanding player at Georgia Tech, was an assistant coach during a very successful period of Georgia Tech history and I believe she will do great things with the program.”
Tyra Perry
Illinois head coach
“She has great knowledge of the game. Her competitiveness and experience in the ACC as a player and former coach makes her an outstanding choice for the position. I’m excited to see what she can do for the program.”
Lisa Navas
South Carolina associate head coach
“When I heard there was an opening, she was the first person that came to my mind. I had the chance to play with her and she was such an amazing athlete and has a great knowledge of the game. I can’t imagine anyone who is more passionate about the sport and about Georgia Tech. I think she is going to do wonderful things for the program.”
Jesse Sallinger-Cole
Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Famer (pitcher – 2002-05)
