“I was not one of the top athletes on the team, in part because I didn’t swim year-round when I went to high school,” Murphy says. “But I was very proud that I was the captain my senior year, so… I absolutely had a successful career.”

PATH TO CAMBRIDGE

Coaching was a natural progression for Murphy after he received his degree in 1979 in health and physical education. Though he had played several sports in college, Murphy chose to pursue a career in swimming.

“I loved some of the other sports I had the opportunity to play,” Murphy says. “I think what kept me in the swimming mode was the opportunity to coach on the national and international level.”

After graduation, Murphy coached at Ursinus College before returning to West Chester to work with his former coach. While there, Murphy realized that he would have to alter his path to achieve his ultimate career goals.

“I really sort of made a decision that if I was going to coach swimming, I wanted to do it on a national level, so I sort of felt like I needed to go back and do the club route to get the experience and get the exposure,” Murphy says.

Murphy did just that, heading to the West Chester swimming club, where coach Jack Simon, whom Murphy also cites as a long-time mentor, hired Murphy as an assistant coach next, having known him from his collegiate swimming.

Although Murphy had only coached for a short period of time, it was clear to Simon that the West Chester grad had an unusual knack for coaching.

“[Murphy was] the best assistant coach I have ever had in my 54-year career,” Simon wrote in an email. “[He was] very passionate and very intense, but also knew how to keep things light!”

Murphy tried his hand at being a head coach next, working at the Wilton YMCA in Connecticut for the next 13 years. In that time, Murphy won a number of coaching accolades, including YMCA National Coach of the Year in 1989, and led the Wahoos to seven national championships before receiving the call from Harvard in 1998.

“Like the students that come [to Harvard], you don’t decide; Harvard decides,” Murphy says. “I think I was fortunate. I [took] a little bit of a different route to get to this level but I think the values that I coach with aligned with Harvard’s mission statement in education through athletics.”

The New Jersey native arrived at Harvard in 1998, taking the reins from previous head coach Mike Chassom, who had left to coach at Arizona State University.

Murphy found immediate success at Harvard, leading the Crimson to three EISL titles in his first four years at the school.

In his time at Harvard, Murphy has led Crimson swimming to a 113-11 record and six undefeated seasons. Once a kid that never regarded himself as much of a swimmer, Murphy has now guided athletes to national and international-level competitions.

“He cares about his swimmers both as swimmers and people,” says Owen Wurzbacher, co-captain of the Harvard men’s swimming team. “You can see when he walks onto the deck that he enjoys being there, and it makes it that much better for his athletes, how much he cares about what he does.”