Harvard’s Legacy: In Murphy’s Image

For many college athletes, the impending end of their playing careers can bring about a bit of an identity crisis.

But that wasn’t the case for Harvard coach Tim Murphy.

“I was a late bloomer and was not remotely highly recruited—I just had a love of the game,” Murphy says. “I consider myself very fortunate that I knew early on...when my career comes to an end as a player, I don’t want that to be the end of my experience with football.”

And so after a successful playing career at Springfield College, where he was a four-year starter at linebacker, Murphy took his talents from the field to the sideline—and immediately proved that he had a knack for coaching.

After eight seasons as an assistant, Murphy earned his first head-coaching job at Maine in 1987 at just 30 years old, making him the youngest head coach in the country at the time. In his first season, Maine made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA tournament.

Murphy moved to Division I-A two years later, taking over a Cincinnati program that was on probation, hadn’t had a winning season since 1982, and lacked adequate facilities. But in five seasons, Murphy turned the Bearcats from a struggling team to one that finished the 1993 season second in the “Also Receiving Votes” category of the of the USA Today/CNN poll, then the highest ranking in school history.

And that’s when Murphy decided to move on.

“It was difficult to leave because we had pulled off with a really great coaching staff, a great bunch of kids, something that was a real mountain to climb,” he admits. “To go from that to a bowl-caliber team in my tenure, we take great pride in that.”

But the combination of Murphy’s positive experience as an Ivy League assistant coach with Brown and a desire to move back to New England—the home of both Murphy and his wife, Martha—led the coach to Harvard.

“It was...looking back, a great decision,” he says. “Somehow, some things are meant to be.”

17 years later, Murphy has built the Crimson into a perennial powerhouse in the Ivy League.

“Coach Murphy is a great mentor,” junior linebacker Alex Gedeon says. “He has a ton of passion for what he does, and the way he carries himself is a way that I think inspires all of us players to look up to that and try to be like that someday.”

The numbers speak for themselves: 110 wins, five titles, two perfect seasons (the first such seasons since 1913), 69 All-Ivy first-team players, 21 alumni advancing to the professional level, and a 0.768 winning percentage from 2000-09, second-best in the FCS.

But what the numbers don’t quite capture is the impact Murphy has had on the character of the Harvard football program.

Making a commitment to developing the student-athlete rather than just the athlete, Murphy boasts a unique accomplishment—every four-year player he has recruited has both graduated and left with at least one Ivy ring.

“It sets the bar very high for every team every year, but it’s a great challenge to have,” he says. “I’m not sure we came in with that specific goal, but we’re especially proud as a staff and as players of that.”

Murphy’s players appreciate their coach’s willingness to look out for them.

“I have a fifth year of eligibility, and I’m coming back next year mainly because he’s that kind of guy who will do anything for his athletes,” adds senior defensive tackle Josué Ortiz. “In the spring when I’m taking off, he’s offered me a job. He helps me out with any problem I have. I always feel like I can go to him.”

For Murphy, recruiting the right kind of player is an important aspect of building up that sense of community.

“The recruiting formula was, ‘Find kids with great character,’” Murphy says. “If you can, find some kids who have had some adversity in their life, because my experience has been that those are the type of kids that are really going to maximize their potential...The more diversity you have, you seem to have an intangible strength that is unique.”

The atmosphere and attitude the coach has instilled in his program became especially apparent this year, when a slew of early-season injuries to key players could have derailed the season. But despite the setbacks, Harvard was in the title hunt into the second-to-last week of the season.

“We played with our third-string quarterback for almost half the season, but during that time [Murphy] was definitely preaching...how guys have to step up,” says senior defensive tackle Chuks Obi. “The team as a whole had to have a positive mental attitude. I think that helped.”

Murphy’s success with the Crimson football program has earned him numerous honors—including a nod as the American Football Monthly Division I-AA National Coach of the Year in 2004, an invitation to join the USO coaches’ tour last May, and an appointment to the American Football Coaches’ Association’s board of trustees, where he currently serves as second vice president.

“At one point, you’re 30 years old and the youngest head coach in the country, and you wake up and you’re 54 years old, and you’re not that kid anymore,” he explains. “So you do feel an obligation to help in any way that you can when you’re asked.”

But despite the attention, the titles, and the respect he has earned in his 17 years at Harvard, Murphy’s heart still lies with his family—both his wife and kids at home and the dozens of players on his roster. Fittingly, his favorite moment with the Crimson involves both sides of that family.

“I’m fighting my way across to shake hands with [Penn coach Al] Bagnoli,” Murphy says of the 2001 victory over the Quakers, which guaranteed Harvard a share of the Ivy title. “It’s just a mob of people, so I’m not having an easy time getting there, and somebody stomps hard down on my shoe. I look around, and it’s my eight-year-old son, and he had the biggest smile on his face...It’s just one of those never-forget moments.”

Although tomorrow’s game may not bring another title, with a chance to secure a perfect 4-0 record against Yale for his seniors, it could bring Murphy another unforgettable moment.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.