“My first job out of college was at an Ivy League school. I really enjoyed it and was really impressed by the level of commitment,” Murphy said. “[It’s] not something you would have naturally expected in athletics or in the sport of football—I really didn’t know what that environment was like.”
Among the toughest challenges that Ivy League teams face is recruiting, given that schools in the conference do not allow athletic scholarships. As a result, the Crimson has greater geographic diversity than most Division I football programs, and Harvard football has to rely more heavily on alumni support to develop and maintain superior facilities that attract recruits despite the lack of scholarships.
“The first change in recruiting for me [coming from] Cincinnati is that you have to recruit nationally here,” Murphy said. “You’re never going to find just in the Northeast, or the Midwest, or in any one part of the country, enough players that are really great kids who are really great students and really great athletes … You have to recruit every nook and cranny of North America.”
But to his players, it isn’t Murphy’s tremendous success in the Ivy League that sets him apart. Beyond developing players into better athletes, members of the roster describe Murphy’s interest in the squad as one that goes beyond the standard duties of a coach.
“Whenever [Murphy] sees you, he always asks about your family, or how they’re doing, if you have any siblings, mother or father, [and] schoolwork,” said junior defensive tackle Nnamdi Obukwelu. “He’s always asking about your personal life, so you know that he isn’t just in it for your ability to play football, but he really cares about you as a human being, as students, as a young person.”
Ortiz, who since his candid discussion with Murphy has transformed himself from a seldom-used defender to a first-team All-Ivy and third-team AP All-American honoree, described Murphy’s relationship with the team more succinctly.
“He considers all of us his 105 sons, and he’s out to do whatever he can to help us out.”
—Staff writer E. Benjamin Samuels can be reached at samuels@college.harvard.edu.