University of Connecticut Athletics
Softball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- christie.novatin@uconn.edu
Christie Novatin enters her second season as associate head coach and her fourth season as an assistant coach at UConn. She joined the UConn coaching staff in July 2019.
In 2022, Novatin was instrumental in the Huskies success, coaching five players above a .300 batting average. With her guidance, UConn broke four single season offensive team records, ranking at the top of the BIG EAST in almost every offensive category.
Novatin and staff were named as Coaching Staff of the Year in the BIG EAST.
Novatin aided the Huskies to a 22-20 record and a runner-up finish in the BIG EAST Softball Championship in the 2021 season. Additionally, she coached the four-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Jana Sanden to BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and First Team All-BIG EAST honors. Under her guidance, Reese Guevarra earned All-BIG EAST First Team recognition, Devon Casazza was named to the Second Team, and Briana Marcelino, achieved Player of the Week Honors March 1.
In her first season with UConn, she helped lead the team to a 16-5 mark, while also coaching Aziah James and Olivia Sappington to AAC Player of the Week Honors.
With more than nine years of experience as a softball coach, Novatin comes to Storrs having won six conference tournaments out of the 10 she has attended both as a coach and student-athlete.
Novatin joined the coaching staff at Princeton University in June of 2015. She helped create and implement offensive strategies that increased overall batting averages and slugging percentages, while decreasing the number of strikeouts. These tactics aided in back-to-back Ivy League Championships for the Tigers.
Prior to her time with Princeton, Novatin served in the same capacity at the University at Albany. While there, she served as the primary hitting coach in addition to working with the infield and outfield. She provided coaching that increased offensive production that led the conference in several categories in addition being crowned America East Champions in 2014.
Novatin’s coaching experience also includes time at Rider University and Georgian Court College.
A graduate of Hofstra University in 2010, she earned her bachelor of science in exercise science with a minor in physical education. Novatin was a member of a Hofstra softball team that won four Colonial Athletic Association conference titles, several conference championships, made three NCAA Regional appearances, two NCAA Regional Finals appearances, and finished statistically as one of the top-5 defensive teams in the country.
