Murphy helps make that decision, too.

“I’m not good at much, but I know how to work hard, and I have a very good feel for people,” he said. “I look for an almost palpable character.”

Murphy said he feels the importance involved in helping select more than one percent of each incoming class and that he wants to choose players that will represent Harvard well. But he admits there are selfish reasons for looking for high-character guys, too.

“I think character is where it’s at,” he said. “Those kids who have great character seem to exceed whatever their perceived athletic and academic potential is perceived to be.”

Riegel said character is even more important given that the players are not bound to the team by athletic scholarships.

If a host player recommends an athlete who then leaves the team, “he wasted a spot for someone who could have helped the team, who could have been a contributing member, and more importantly, could have become a best friend to one of the teammates,” Riegel explained.

Picking the best applicants is the first step in Murphy creating the school he wants to lead.

THE LECTURES

Murphy says the lessons he preaches in speeches given either right before kickoff or Friday before a team meal stem from those he learned growing up in football.

A 170-pound tackle at Silver Lake High School, Murphy overachieved in the eyes of his coach John Montosi, playing at Springfield College and eventually becoming an All-New England linebacker.

Murphy then became an unpaid graduate assistant at Brown University, and he worked 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at a Pawtucket, R.I., mill.

Recounting the story at Springfield’s 2012 commencement, Murphy said, “If you want something in life, you are going to have to grind it out.”

Given that Murphy has been a constant presence on the Harvard sideline and in the football offices, outlasting two University presidents, it would be easy to see the job as his destiny. But that’s a notion he fights each time he addresses his team.

“Almost on a weekly basis we say we are not destined to win, we are not more entitled to win than our opponent, [and] we are going to have to go out and earn it,” Murphy explained.

But that’s just one part of his consistent message. Murphy also reminds his players that “at some point, you are going to have to fight through some bad stuff—fight through some adversity.”