Bellarmine University Women's Softball

Whitney Arion was named head coach of the Bellarmine University softball team in June of 2025. A first-time head coach, Arion comes to Bellarmine after spending last season at Eastern Kentucky University as the program's Director of Player Development/Video Analysis. In her role, and second stint at EKU, she helped lead the Colonels to a 38-16 record and an ASUN Gold Division Title. She helped develop a potent offense that featured three All-ASUN selections and an NFCA First-Team All-Region selection in Maddi Rutan. Prior to her return to EKU, Arion served as an assistant coach at Utah Valley for the 2021 season and as an assistant coach at Fresno State from 2022-24. She was the primary hitting coach for both programs.  While at Fresno State, three Bulldogs earned All-Mountain West nods with 13 being named Academic All-Mountain West, including Alesia Denby who was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and NFCA All-Pacific Region in 2023. In her first stint on the EKU staff from 2016-20, Arion was an assistant coach who helped lay the foundation for some of the programs top offensive squads, culminating in a 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Championship. In 2020, Arion played a major role in EKU's historic 22-2 start before the season was ended early due to COVID-19. In 2018, Arion helped develop one of the most dominant offenses in the country as the Colonels averaged over 1.3 home runs per game and aided in the growth of 2018 OVC Player of the Year, three -time All-OVC selection and current assistant Bellarmine assistant coach Paige Murphy. A standout player in her own right, the Delphi, Indiana native was a four-time All-Conference selection at the University of Louisville, highlighted by a first-team All-ACC selection as a senior in 2015. The shortstop helped lead the Cardinals to four NCAA Tournament appearances. Across four seasons as a starter, Arion turned in a .295 batting average with 36 doubles, four triples, 24 home runs, 131 RBI, 116 runs and eight stolen bases. She ranks second in Louisville program history with 444 assists in her career and owns the record for the most assists in a single season with 143 in 2015. Arion is also tied for ninth with her 226 career starts. Following her time at UofL, Arion played two seasons with the Pennsylvania Rebellion of the National Pro Fastpitch League from 2015-16. Arion holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Louisville (2015) and a master's degree in physical education from Eastern Kentucky (2018).

Harold Davis was named the first head coach in Bellarmine University sprint football program history in August of 2021. The 2023 season will mark Davis' second at Bellarmine. In the program's inaugural year, Davis led Bellarmine to a winning season. The Knights in 2022 went 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the Midwest Sprint Football League, good for third place in the conference. In the first game in program history, Bellarmine captured a 17-15 road victory at Midway on a game-winning 33-yard field goal with 44 seconds left. The Knights earned 12 MSFL All-Conference laurels while Brenden Reid was named MSFL Offensive MVP. Davis, a Louisville native and a retired firefighter, comes to Bellarmine after a lengthy and successful high school coaching career. A graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan, where he was named team most valuable player in 1986, Davis' coaching resume includes two Kentucky 2A high school championships (2013 and 2014) and being named KHSAA Coach of the Year in 2018.

Paige Murphy joined the Bellarmine softball coach staff in August 2023 as assistant coach after serving as head coach of the Assumption High School team for two years.   An outstanding player in her own right, Murphy hit .443 with a .903 slugging percentage in her senior year at Eastern Kentucky University.  That year, the outfielder banged out 82 hits, 22 home runs, 17 doubles, a triple and scored 67 runs. That performance earned her Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, NFCA Third Team All-America honors, and resulted in her being named the OVC's overall female athlete of the year.   The Louisville native was a multi-sport star at Pleasure Ridge Park High School, and she proved her versatility again at EKU.  After wrapping up her softball playing career for the Colonels, she laced up her sneakers and went to work on the EKU hardwood, playing the 2019-20 season for the women’s basketball team, appearing in 24 games and making 10 starts as a 5-11 guard/forward.   After earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern, Murphy turned much of her attention to coaching, serving multiple travel teams while joining Assumption coaching staff as an assistant in 2019 before being elevated to associate head coach and then head coach in 2022.