Stow, Mass. – Pat Moriarty initially declined the offer to coach at Masters Academy International. Now, he’s carrying the torch to usher in a new era of prep school baseball in New England.
The longtime skipper made his name as one of the area’s rising-star coaches by first building an MIAA powerhouse at Springfield Cathedral and later a NEPSAC stalwart at Deerfield Academy. Deerfield was a perennial top-five prep program in New England when former BC hockey legend Peter Masters offered Moriarty a head-coaching job at his upstart sports factory last October.
Moriarty couldn’t imagine leaving an established, stable role at Deerfield to go to Masters, let alone asking his wife, Michelle, to leave her teaching position. How could he sell an amateur athletic experiment that had never been attempted in New England?
A sports-first boarding school? Maybe that works at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where athletes can train outdoors year-round. But not in New England.
