“Other schools seemed like they were stuck in the same rut of playing football the way they were 25 years ago,” Staph adds. “But Harvard and Penn were the two that were different.”

As Staph notes, the past three years notwithstanding, the commitment to winning has been at Harvard all along. It was just a matter of execution. This season, it finally came.

All in the Family

Rose thinks Murphy looks for a specific breed of player when he is out recruiting.

“He really likes a blue-collar, humble kid,” Rose says.

If that’s true, maybe it is because Murphy sees a bit of himself in those blue-collar types. Murphy was the first person in his family to attend college.

Today, his first priority remains his wife, Martha, and his three children. The main reason he decided to leave Cincinnati—a top Division I-A program —to come to Harvard was because he thought Boston would be a better place to raise his family.

“My family is simply the most important thing in the world to me,” Murphy says. “It gives me the balance in my life that I need. I’ve got young enough children that they still think I’m the funniest, smartest, toughest guy in America. They haven’t got me figured out yet.”

Murphy sees his relationships with his players in much the same way he views his role at home.

“When you’re a coach, it’s a lot like being a dad,” Murphy says. “You don’t try to be their buddy. You try to do the right things so that they can reach their full potential.”

Murphy’s players respect his approach. He is tough, they say, but always fair.

“There’s no pretense with him,” Staph says. “He’s straightforward, doesn’t give you any bull. When I wasn’t good enough to play, he’d told me, ‘You’re not good enough to play.’”

The football team has always been known as one of the most tightly-knit groups on campus. They practice together, they take classes together, they live together.

But Staph, who has been here for five years, says this might be the closest group since he’s been here. Murphy, he