When Murphy came to Cambridge, his mission was simple.

“My goals here are to help improve the program—to bring it back to a point first of being more competitive in the league, to be a winning program in the league, then ultimately to win the Ivy League championship,” Murphy said in 1993.

By 2004, he had accomplished all of that several times over. But the program had become Murphy’s child, Fitzpatrick said, and he wasn’t done raising it.

“When he came here, he had a vision, and there’s still a lot he wants to get done that he hasn’t done yet,” Fitzpatrick said after the 2004 season.

‘SMELL THE ROSES’

It takes Murphy a second to recognize all of the trophies that sit behind his desk. He doesn’t look back there often and admits he doesn’t think too much about all of his accomplishments.

“Whether we like it or not we all tend to...breeze by the successes and linger on the failures,” Murphy said.

Former Harvard assistant coach Ron Crook remembers how quickly the coaching staff moved past its 2007 Ivy championship.

After Harvard clinched the title against Yale, the coaches celebrated on the sideline. But they didn’t let the players enjoy the moment for too long. Crook and the coaching staff stressed what the team could take away from that year in order to win its next game nine months later.

“I think that’s the biggest thing you spend the time on,” Crook said. “Showing them what it takes to do that again.”

These days, Murphy recognizes the importance of enjoying the moment. But it is still easier said than done for the coach.

“It’s terrible but really good coaches, it takes them too long to realize you’ve got to smell the roses, and I certainly have to remind myself of that,” Murphy said. “It’s something you certainly have to somehow come to grips with, and I’m not quite there yet.”

Talking about the 1997 season, the game Murphy harps on first is the team’s only loss, a 24-20 come-from-behind win by Bucknell.

“What bugs me is...that’s what kept us from being a 10-0 team,” Murphy said.

“Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the failures that are more vivid in your mind,” Murphy said. “Sometimes the lows are lower than the highs are high for a lot of successful people.”