‘College Football Lost’: Legendary Coach Tim Murphy Bids Farewell to Harvard After 30 Years
By Nadia A. Fairfax and Griffin Wong, Crimson Staff WritersOn Wednesday morning, Harvard football head coach Tim Murphy announced his retirement, concluding a stellar 30-year career with the Crimson. His tenure was marked by notable victories, several regional and national accolades, and a deep impact on the nation’s oldest collegiate institution.
At the time of his retirement, he was the second-longest tenured coach in Division I football, behind only Monmouth’s Kevin Callahan, who will return for his 32nd season with the Hawks in the fall.
Murphy announced his departure from Harvard on the heels of one of the finest seasons in his storied career.
In his 2023 season, Murphy led the Crimson to an 8-2 (5-2 Ivy) record and its 18th Ivy League title. With a 17-9 victory over Dartmouth on Oct. 28, he passed Yale’s Carm Cozza for the most conference wins of any Ancient Eight head coach. The 25-23, triple-overtime triumph over Penn on Nov. 11 — which clinched the Crimson the title that it would ultimately share with Dartmouth and Yale — was also his 200th win with the Harvard program.
In an interview with The Crimson on Wednesday, Murphy discussed how he found himself leading Harvard’s football program for 30 years and the legacy he leaves behind as arguably the best head coach in the Crimson’s history.
If not for Guy John Montosi — Murphy’s head coach as a linebacker at Silver Lake Regional High School — his legendary career may have never even begun. As a 16-year-old junior in high school, Murphy was considering enlisting in the Marines after graduation. Montosi and Lakers basketball head coach Dick Arrieta cornered Murphy in the hallway and urged him to attend college instead.
“I remember very vividly,” Murphy said, recalling the encounter with Montosi and Arrietta. “They said, ‘What are you doing when you graduate? I’ve heard some rumors.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll probably join the Marines.’ They looked at each other and said, ‘Nah, that’s not going to happen.’
“Being a 16-year-old kid without an understanding of the real world, I said, ‘The hell it isn’t, I’m joining the Marines,’” Murphy added. “They said, ‘Shut up, son; you’re going to college,’ and the rest is history.”
‘What it Looks Like to be a Winner’
Murphy was also heavily influenced by Howard S. “Howie” Vandersea, who served as the head coach during his successful four-year stint as a linebacker at Springfield College. Vandersea steadfastly believed in Murphy’s intellect throughout his time at Springfield and pushed him to pursue a Masters’ degree while still playing football. Because of Vandersea’s influence, Murphy continued to take classes during his coaching stints at Brown, Lafayette, Boston University, and Maine.
Still, after two years serving alongside his longtime best friend, late Dartmouth coach Eugene F. “Buddy” Teevens III, as the offensive coordinator at Maine, Murphy nearly walked away from the game. He had been admitted to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and planned to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Then, the Black Bears offered him the head coaching job in Orono, as Teevens took over for the Big Green.
Murphy planned on staying for only one year, to “get it out of [his] system.”
But in his debut season, Maine won the Yankee Conference title, advancing to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs for the first time in program history. The Black Bears even took a 14-point, second-half lead on defending champion Georgia State in Atlanta before eventually succumbing in overtime. Murphy was hooked on winning, and he moved business school to the back burner.
The winning never stopped for Murphy.
The Crimson had just five losing seasons under his leadership, while he recorded three undefeated campaigns, won six Ivy League titles alone, and tied for four more. Before Murphy arrived at Harvard in 1994, the Crimson had not won more than eight games in a season since 1919, a feat it has since accomplished eight additional times.
Murphy’s remarkable consistency meant that Harvard has posted the sixth-best winning percentage in Division I football since 2000, behind only traditional powerhouses Ohio State, Boise State, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Georgia.
“It’s not that we weren’t winners before Murph. Murph didn’t make us winners,” said defensive back RuQuan Brown, who left the team after his first season in 2021. “But Murph showed us what it looks like to be a winner for a long time, 30 seasons straight.”
According to Brown, being a winner set Murphy apart. But the coach insisted that it wasn’t the 200 wins, ten Ivy League titles, or eight New England Coach of the Year awards that best defined his tenure with the Crimson.
Instead, it was exemplified by his vision to turn Harvard into a model program, on and off the field. Part of that effort manifested itself in the program culture, which was widely credited for the team’s on-field success.
“His staff is on the same page. The messaging around the locker room and around the team, on the field and off the field, is consistent,” Brown explained. “We’re all on the same page about what’s expected. And that’s a part of winning, because you can’t win when the team is divided in different places and sections.”
“It’s the appreciation of the hard work and the wanting to have the adversity as a team through the offseason, to make everything as hard as possible, to make the Harvard football experience such a huge commitment,” added defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Scott Larkee ’99, on the team culture. “Year in and year out, you go through the classes of people who came through his program and how thankful they are, years out of the program, that that was what their college football experience was, and it really changed a lot of lives that way.”
‘A Great Coach’
Much of the credit for the team’s many successes — and few failures — has fallen on Murphy’s shoulders. But to him, the records and accomplishments weren’t a signifier of only his talent, but of the entire program’s effort and commitment.
“It doesn’t mean as much,” said Murphy about the accolades he’s received during his time at Harvard. “Let’s face it, it’s an award that really is about what the entire team accomplished, every assistant coach, all 110 players.”
Still, current and former players pointed to one man — Murphy — as responsible for creating an environment where players turned to him for mentorship and advice both on and off the gridiron.
Both Murphy and Larkee emphasized the importance of attracting talented, high-character players to the Harvard program. Throughout his tenure, Murphy installed a people-first culture, focusing on developing strong relationships with his players, assistant coaches, and their families.
“Just being around great kids, highly-motivated kids on so many levels, funny kids, ambitious kids, hilarious kids, and everything in between — it keeps you young,” Murphy said. “It’s as simple as that.”
The respect and admiration was mutual. Several current and former Crimson players cited Murphy as an inspiration for his loyalty and commitment to their development as people, both on and off the field.
“Personally, I have a very close relationship with Coach Murphy,” wrote senior defensive tackle Thor Griffith when reached by text message. “He always made time to sit and talk with me, whether it be about football, school, or my future goals.”
Wide receiver Kym Wimberly ’22, whose twisting end-zone catch to secure a 34-31 victory over Yale in 2021 remains one of Murphy’s most cherished memories of his coaching career, echoed Griffith’s sentiment.
“As a former player, the life lessons he taught and the brotherhood he cultivated among his players are something I will always cherish,” Wimberly wrote over text.
Throughout Murphy’s tenure, he continued to serve as the tight ends/halfbacks coach, and he cited having the opportunity to mentor those players as one of the most rewarding aspects of being a head coach. As a result, he fostered tight bonds with several tight ends, including senior Tyler Neville.
“Above being a great coach, fearless leader, and great support resource, Coach Murphy is a great man,” Neville wrote over text. “He takes interest in every player on the roster and always has a comment ready whether it’s about your family or your favorite NFL team.”
“We had so many great ones that we’ve stayed connected to throughout our tenure,” Murphy added. “Our sport is so hard, it’s so brutally tough, that there’s a bond there that’s hard to articulate, but it does connect you at the hip for life.”
‘Hard to Replace’
But becoming the winningest head coach in Ivy League history wasn’t without its challenges. His commitment to the program — which often came with 12- and 18-hour days recruiting or game-planning for the next opponent — came with a stark sacrifice of his role as a father.
“My three wonderful children, Molly, Conor, and Grace, were all three-sport athletes in high school,” he said. “Because of this job, this all-consuming, year-round job, I missed so many of their contests. And I used to apologize for it all the time. The kids were like, ‘Great, no, great, Daddy, we’re so proud that you’re a football coach!’ But I wasn’t always proud of that at all. It definitely tugged on me at times.”
Murphy said that in his retirement, he is excited to spend more time at home with his family.
“I’m looking forward to having more time,” he said. “The 18-hour shifts are probably more like 48 hours when you consider that you’re away from your family on road trips. You’ve gotta be a little bit crazy to do that.”
Now, Harvard will embark on the task of replacing the coach who senior tight end Tim Dowd described, simply, as, “the program.”
Murphy was “not just as the best coach in Ivy League history, but as one of the most successful coaches ever in sports,” Dowd said.
In a statement, Harvard Director of Athletic Communications Darin Wong wrote that a “national search for Murphy’s successor will begin immediately.”
Murphy downplayed the difficulty of finding a replacement, mentioning that there were three or four assistants on his staff — who he declined to name — who he thought would make quality head coaching candidates.
But those who know him best argued that it would be nearly impossible to fill his shoes.
“College football lost yesterday,” Neville wrote.
“It’s gonna be hard to find somebody who has what he has, a toughness, a single-mindedness of personality to do that job as well as he did,” Larkee said. “It’d be hard to replace.”
—Staff writer Nadia A. Fairfax can be reached at nadia.fairfax@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Griffin Wong can be reached at griffin.wong@thecrimson.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Wong_THC.