Harvard's Murphy Retires

[Go Green]

Going out on a (tri-) championship year.

Football’s Murphy Announces Retirement After 30 Seasons at Helm - Harvard University (gocrimson.com) (https://gocrimson.com/news/2024/1/17/footballs-murphy-announces-retirement-after-30-seasons-at-helm.aspx)

[Wolffan]

Long and successful tenure within the Ivy league and occasionally his Harvard teams were in the FCS Top 25 nationally. That 13th-ranked 2004 team may have been his best. According to the Boston Globe his career head coach record (across all stops) was a very good 224-132-1.

[bulldog10jw]

Great coach, great person. All the best to him.

[caribbeanhen]

Great coach, great person. All the best to him.

rumor was he was lined up to take Delaware job in 2002 after Tubby Raymond retired but they went with KC Keeler at the last minute.

[Go Green]

rumor was he was lined up to take Delaware job in 2002 after Tubby Raymond retired but they went with KC Keeler at the last minute.

Those were the days when Murphy was constantly rumored to be in the running for such-and-such job. We all wondered whether the whole thing was a big ruse for him to leverage higher salaries from Harvard....

[bulldog10jw]

Just wondering. Tony Reno has bounced from Yale as an assistant, to Harvard as an assistant, to Yale as head coach. He is a Massachusetts guy. Just wondering.

[DFW HOYA]

Bob Surace now becomes the dean of Ivy coaches, with three new head coaches entering 2024 and one in his second season.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Those were the days when Murphy was constantly rumored to be in the running for such-and-such job. We all wondered whether the whole thing was a big ruse for him to leverage higher salaries from Harvard....

His name was linked to Notre Dame in the early 2000s!

[NY Crusader 2010]

Long and successful tenure within the Ivy league and occasionally his Harvard teams were in the FCS Top 25 nationally. That 13th-ranked 2004 team may have been his best. According to the Boston Globe his career head coach record (across all stops) was a very good 224-132-1.

The 2004 team was rated #2 that year according to Sagarin, right behind national champ JMU.

[bonarae]

Finally! Hopefully the next Crimson football coach is nationally minded when it comes to BOTH recruiting and scheduling opponents. We poached our current AD from UChicago.

Fingers crossed then.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Would Fordham's Joe Conlin be a candidate?

[Wolffan]

The 2004 team was rated #2 that year according to Sagarin, right behind national champ JMU.
Montana finished ranked at 2 that year after losing to JMU in the finals and Harvard finished up at 13. Sagarin ratings are another matter. (Sagarin buried Holy Cross at 18 the same year [2022] they were ranked 6th...)

[Franks Tanks]

Great career, but kinda weird he announced now with the season being over for two months. Internal hire here?

[Son of Eli]

Bob Surace now becomes the dean of Ivy coaches, with three new head coaches entering 2024 and one in his second season.


Tony Reno now becomes the dean of Ivy coaches, with three new head coaches entering 2024 and one in his second season.

FIFY

[bulldog10jw]

Great career, but kinda weird he announced now with the season being over for two months. Internal hire here?

But they said there will be a "nationwide search". ;)

[Son of Eli]

Finally! Hopefully the next Crimson football coach is nationally minded when it comes to BOTH recruiting and scheduling opponents. We poached our current AD from UChicago.

Fingers crossed then.

How is that AD working out? Doesn’t look to good from what I see in both men’s and women’s hockey and Men’s basketball, off the top of my head.

[bonarae]

How is that AD working out? Doesn’t look to good from what I see in both men’s and women’s hockey and Men’s basketball, off the top of my head.

Did those three teams tumble out of the gate this season? I am not aware of anything bad in Allston/Cambridge athletically ATM.

[Go Green]

How is that AD working out? Doesn’t look to good from what I see in both men’s and women’s hockey and Men’s basketball, off the top of my head.

ADs really aren't responsible for coaches/schedules that they inherited.

Do you think that the Harvard AD should fire Amaker?

[Son of Eli]

ADs really aren't responsible for coaches/schedules that they inherited.

Do you think that the Harvard AD should fire Amaker?

of course not. Amaker is a proven excellent coach and clearly isn’t the issue.

[Son of Eli]

Did those three teams tumble out of the gate this season? I am not aware of anything bad in Allston/Cambridge athletically ATM.


There were major and well publicized issues last season with Women’s Hockey. The Harvard AD was slow to react.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/10/harvard-womens-hockey-team-facing-naked-skates-hazing-claims/

[DFW HOYA]

Tony Reno now becomes the dean of Ivy coaches, with three new head coaches entering 2024 and one in his second season.
FIFY

In age, but not tenure: Surace took over at Old Nassau in 2010, Reno arrived as HC at Yale in 2012.

[Son of Eli]

In age, but not tenure: Surace took over at Old Nassau in 2010, Reno arrived as HC at Yale in 2012.


oh, I thought performance would be the criteria. Reno has a better winning percentage and a 6-5 record against Surace.

[Franks Tanks]

But they said there will be a "nationwide search". ;)

Ha, they do have 3 current assistants with the title of “Assistant Head Coach”.

[ngineer]

Ha, they do have 3 current assistants with the title of “Assistant Head Coach”.

l
what about "Associate Head Coach"??? Or the "Deputy Head Coach"? in between you may have the "Assistant to the Associate Head Coach"...I shake my head at the all the "job creations" we have in corporate academia. Ever see the title "Secretary" anymore???

[Pard4Life]

Best teams I've seen Lafayette face in the past 25 years:
1) NDSU, 2011
2) Harvard, 2004

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Best teams I've seen Lafayette face in the past 25 years:
1) NDSU, 2011
2) Harvard, 2004

That's a bold statement. Not saying 2004 Harvard wasn't very good but second best team Lafayette has faced over the last 25 years? Two one point wins, impressive but not dominant wins over a Top 25 Lafayette team and a sub .500 Cornell team. What criteria did you use to draw this conclusion? 2005 App State comes to mind. Personally, I would take a couple of Colgate ('03, '18), Fordham ('02, '13) and Lehigh ('98, '00) teams as well as 2022 Holy Cross over 2004 Harvard as well. The three best 1-AA/FCS teams I've seen Lehigh play in that time are 2009 Villanova (won national title), 2000 Delaware (their semifinal game against GSU was for the Natty), and 2011 North Dakota State.

2005 #11 Lehigh beat #15 Harvard 49-24 in Cambridge; held Dawson to 59 yards. Ahh, the days of yore....

[Pards Rule]

Good retirement Coach. He and Tavani and one other coach (help?) were roommates back in 1987 in Easton under HC Bill Russo.

[bulldog10jw]

Where is Ivytalk?

[Ivytalk]

Asleep at the switch!

Congrats and heartfelt best wishes to Coach Murphy for a happy retirement. His resume includes 30 years at Harvard (counting the 2020 COVID washout), 200 wins at Harvard, 10 Ivy titles, and a 19-10 record against Yale.

[bulldog10jw]

Asleep at the switch!

Congrats and heartfelt best wishes to Coach Murphy for a happy retirement. His resume includes 30 years at Harvard (counting the 2020 COVID washout), 200 wins at Harvard, 10 Ivy titles, and a 19-10 record against Yale.

And, I should point out that you forecasted Murphy's retirement two months ago before the game. (THE GAME).

[Son of Eli]

Good retirement Coach. He and Tavani and one other coach (help?) were roommates back in 1987 in Easton under HC Bill Russo.


Jack Siedlecki?

[Ivytalk]

And, I should point out that you forecasted Murphy's retirement two months ago before the game. (THE GAME).

Well, bulldog, the time was right for Coach Murphy. He went out on a high note with his 10th Ivy title, albeit shared with two other classy programs. He had nothing left to prove.

Between them, Murphy and Joe Restic coached Harvard football for something like 52 straight seasons. They’re the only two coaches I ever knew, and I’ll turn 70 this year!

[DFW HOYA]

Well, bulldog, the time was right for Coach Murphy. He went out on a high note with his 10th Ivy title, albeit shared with two other classy programs. He had nothing left to prove.

Between them, Murphy and Joe Restic coached Harvard football for something like 52 straight seasons. They’re the only two coaches I ever knew, and I’ll turn 70 this year!

Add in John Yovicsin and there have been only three Harvard head coaches since 1957.

[Pards Rule]

Jack Siedlecki?

No, Bill recruited Jack from Albany for his first season in Easton in 1981 as OC. Russo was familiar with Jack as Russo was HC at Wagner and they played Albany. I loved Jack. I would sit right below the coaches box (pre stadium renovation in 2006) and in warmer weather they would open the windows (no AC!). And I could hear him talking to the O lineman and asst coaches down on sideline. I know a lot of 84 grads that were under Jack and they love him too. Jack came to a party I was invited to (I never played) on 150 weekend.

[Pards Rule]

Jack Siedlecki?

I will have to ask Russo at the season opening Buffalo game. There was an article in one of the Lehigh Valley papers I think about a gathering of former players/coaches to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that golden 1981 season for Russo (who by then was retired).

- - - Updated - - -


Jack Siedlecki?

I will have to ask Tavani at the season opening Buffalo game. There was an article in one of the Lehigh Valley papers I think about a gathering of former players/coaches to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that golden 1981 season for Russo (who by then was retired).

- - - Updated - - -


Jack Siedlecki?

I will have to ask Tavani at the season opening Buffalo game. There was an article in one of the Lehigh Valley papers I think about a gathering of former players/coaches to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that golden 1981 season for Russo (who by then was retired).

[caribbeanhen]

Well, bulldog, the time was right for Coach Murphy. He went out on a high note with his 10th Ivy title, albeit shared with two other classy programs. He had nothing left to prove.

Between them, Murphy and Joe Restic coached Harvard football for something like 52 straight seasons. They’re the only two coaches I ever knew, and I’ll turn 70 this year!

I was kind of taken aback when I read this on gohens…. They forgot about the 2 stiffs that followed Keeler


Hens79 (http://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=362) wrote: ↑ (http://www.gohens.net/boards/viewtopic.php?p=439028#p439028)Of all the mistakes UD has made over the decades, this is one they thankfully didn’t make.

With that said, eyes forward to better days.Without question on both counts, friend. Just an interesting side note for those keeping score. http://www.gohens.net/boards/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

I cannot wipe the smile from my face over the FBS move. I haven't felt this optimistic about the future of Delaware sports in a couple decades.

[Go Green]

Add in John Yovicsin and there have been only three Harvard head coaches since 1957.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that no other football team can make a similar claim.

[bonarae]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that no other football team can make a similar claim.

I'm not sure if there are any others at all... xdontknowx

D-III schools come to mind, but hey, they make changes too, even in the past several years...

[DFW HOYA]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that no other football team can make a similar claim.

In basketball, Kyle Neptune is only the sixth Villanova head coach since 1936.

[centraljerseycat]

In basketball, Kyle Neptune is only the sixth Villanova head coach since 1936.

And hopefully we will have a 7th in short order...

[BEAR]

I got to speak with coach last year when he was recruiting my son to play Oline up there. Nice guy from what I could tell. My son ended up in the SEC so Harvard does know talent and is looking for those winning players. Happy retirement coach!

[Go Green]

Harvard reportedly down to four finalists.

Harvard Football Head Coach Search Down to 4 Finalists | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com) (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/7/harvard-football-coach-finalists/)

[Ivytalk]

I predict they’ll hire from within. One of the two Harvard assistants will get the job.

[Go Green]

Harvard Football keeps with tradition and goes outside the family (they always do).

Andrew Aurich, Tight Ends Coach at Rutgers, to Serve as Next Harvard Football Head Coach | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com) (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/8/harvard-football-coach-aurich/)

[Sader87]

Interesting, I thought for awhile that Joel Lamb was the heir apparent for the Johnnies....he probably did too.

[Go Green]

We will see how it plays out. But I can understand if the Harvard faithful feels underwhelmed. Tim Murphy was HC at the U. of Cincinnati. Joe Restic was HC for a Canadian Football League team. John Yovicsin was HC at Gettysburg. Those are the Harvard head football coaches since the Ivy was formalized.

And two longtime Harvard assistants were passed over for Aurich.

I would not be surprised if Harvard goes through some growing pains in the next season or two while Aurich implements his vision for the team (whatever that may be)...

[bonarae]

Haley hasn’t announced Aurich yet. I’m not confident of Aurich’s assistant coaching experience… if he had been an Ivy assistant as well… xdontknowx


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bulldog10jw]

It seems that the main complaint from Harvard alums is that Aurich is a Princeton guy. Can't blame them for being skeptical.

[Ivytalk]

It seems that the main complaint from Harvard alums is that Aurich is a Princeton guy. Can't blame them for being skeptical.

The Princeton connection doesn’t bother me a bit. Since all four finalists were assistants of some type without HC experience, I thought they’d stay “in-house.” I wonder what Hu, Fitzpatrick, and Berry thought.

At least Claudine Gay didn’t get the job.

[bulldog10jw]

I wonder what Hu, Fitzpatrick, and Berry thought.


The article in the Crimson made it sound like they were going to do interviews, but hadn't done them yet. I wonder what their input was.

[caribbeanhen]

The Princeton connection doesn’t bother me a bit. Since all four finalists were assistants of some type without HC experience, I thought they’d stay “in-house.” I wonder what Hu, Fitzpatrick, and Berry thought.

At least Claudine Gay didn’t get the job.

that’s funny

[Go Green]

Many Crimson faithful are underwhelmed by the hire.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/11/harvard-football-aurich-mcdermott-backlash/

[bonarae]

Many Crimson faithful are underwhelmed by the hire.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/11/harvard-football-aurich-mcdermott-backlash/

Is McDermott is a bad AD after all? xsighx

[Ivytalk]

Many Crimson faithful are underwhelmed by the hire.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/2/11/harvard-football-aurich-mcdermott-backlash/

Count me among them. And the AD has not exactly compiled a glittering won-loss record across the varsity programs.

[The Boogie Down]

Harvard should hire Joe Conlin. His many years as a Yale OC (and Harvard ast. before that), have taught him not to like coaching Games 11 and 12 and to hate the playoffs.

[bulldog10jw]

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/harvard-football-coach-andrew-aurich-46a17c58

Harvard Alumni Are Going After a New Target: the Football Coach

Story by Laine Higgins


The alumni of Harvard University have never exactly been shy about expressing their opinions. When they were unhappy about the university’s response to the Hamas attack on Israel, they threatened to withhold donations and called for president Claudine Gay’s ouster. They turned up the volume of their complaints when plagiarism allegations against Gay surfaced and eventually got their way: Gay resigned in January.

Lately, they’ve shifted their outrage to a different leadership position: the football coach.

The kerfuffle began a month ago when Tim Murphy, who had become the winningest coach in Ivy League history over 30 years with the program, announced his retirement on Jan. 17.
Athletic director Erin McDermott led the hunt for a successor, which culminated Monday with an announcement that Andrew Aurich would be the Crimson’s new leader. Aurich, previously the tight ends coach at Rutgers, was chosen over two Harvard assistants who together had more than four decades of experience coaching in Cambridge, Mass.

Nothing about that decision or the process that led up to it was satisfactory to the dozens of former Harvard football players who have written impassioned letters to the university administration and threatened to withhold future donations to the team. First, they tried to block the hire after the student newspaper reported that Aurich had been tabbed to succeed Murphy. Now that the university has made things official, alumni are demanding greater transparency into a search they say was bungled.

“It smells of some kind of sham process,” said Joe Mattson, who played for the Crimson in the 1990s. “There is no other explanation for hiring an unsuccessful tight end coach from a really crappy program.”

This latest mutiny at Harvard comes at a time of turmoil on college campuses, during which newly emboldened donors have taken a stand against how their alma maters address topics like free speech and diversity. It also coincides with a rapidly evolving era of college athletics when NCAA rule changes have made it easier than ever for athletics boosters to put their money where their mouths are, through name, image and likeness collectives that can lure top recruits by dangling endorsement deals.

Even Harvard, whose football team competes in the lower tier of Division I, isn’t immune from dealing with the whims of boosters.

Harvard alumni were involved in finding a successor for Murphy from the jump. Instead of hiring a search firm to identify potential candidates, McDermott assembled a trio of former Crimson players to help with the interview process: Andrew Berry, general manager of the Cleveland Browns; Eion Hu, now a partner at private equity firm TJC; and Ryan Fitzpatrick, the journeyman NFL quarterback turned Amazon Prime Video pundit. Hu did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Some former players not on the committee wanted the administration to swing big and target sitting coaches from major conferences—nevermind that joining the Crimson would almost certainly entail a major pay cut. Steve O’Brien, a Harvard quarterback in the 1970s, suggested that McDermott hire Pat Fitzgerald, the longtime Northwestern coach who was fired amidst a hazing scandal last summer.

Neil Gilman, O’Brien’s classmate who now runs a football equipment company, lobbied heavily for UCLA coach Chip Kelly. In a text message exchange, Gilman told Kelly that his brilliant football mind would be appreciated in a place like Cambridge; Kelly replied that he was interested in the job. The Bruins coach did eventually take a new job—as offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

McDermott declined to comment on the candidate pool.

Short of a blockbuster name, there were two highly qualified candidates lying in wait: defensive coordinator Scott Larkee and assistant head coach Joel Lamb, both Harvard graduates and coordinators.

Once McDermott narrowed the field to four finalists—the two Harvard assistants, South Carolina analyst Sean Ryan and Aurich—it left some Crimson supporters scratching their heads. None of the candidates had ever been a head coach before, though all had ties to the Ivy League. Ryan spent one season coaching the junior varsity football team at Harvard in 2006. Aurich was an offensive lineman at Princeton in the early 2000s and coached there from 2013-19.

“I think Harvard could have gotten the best and the brightest,” Gilman said. “And I don’t think they did that here.”

Several alums expressed frustration that McDermott didn’t consult Murphy, the outgoing coach, before naming his successor.

The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, broke the news that Aurich would be Murphy’s successor on Feb. 8. The Friends of Harvard Football, the team’s booster club, suddenly weren’t acting so amicably.

Alumni staged a quasi-revolt in an unsuccessful bid to block Aurich’s hire. Many sent letters to McDermott, attacking Aurich’s credentials and urging her to reconsider. Gilman wrote, “Let the words ring out from the vaulted ceiling of Memorial Hall to the catacombs of Widener Library, ‘Do not bring a ‘Paper Tiger’ into Dillon Fieldhouse!’”

Berry was unsurprised by the backlash. “I’ve never been a part of a head coach or coordinator hiring process where there has been external consensus,” he said.

Several former players, including Mattson, have said they will no longer give to Crimson football. McDermott said she was not concerned about losing donors. “People say a lot of things when they’re in a moment and they haven’t had the chance to fully digest things,” she said.

Then, on Feb. 12, Harvard made it official with Aurich. Many miffed alumni have said they are reluctantly falling in line behind Aurich because they don’t wish ill upon their former team.

In the meantime, the only thing the Crimson faithful want more than another Ivy League title is greater transparency from McDermott. “This isn’t the C.I.A. This is a football coach,” said Jim Bell, a defensive tackle in the 1980s. “Tell us what went into this.”

[bonarae]

Thanks for sharing bulldog. Maybe the alumni should go after McDermott too. xsmhx

In the meantime, I'll shift my focus to the Tommies and ETSU for this coming season.

[Go Green]

I, too, was underwhelmed by the hire.

That said, I really am not sure what reality the Harvard faithful are living in. The guy was hired. He signed a contract. There's no going back. The options are accept and support him, or undermine him (either actively or passively withholding support).

Why the Harvard boosters are favoring the second option is bewildering. But hey--I'm all for anything that makes Harvard weaker!! :)

[Ivytalk]

But hey--I'm all for anything that makes Harvard weaker!! :)

Of course you are. You went to Dartmouth. It comes with the territory.

[Go Green]

Of course you are. You went to Dartmouth. It comes with the territory.

You ain't wrong.

But the Columbia faithful are also munching the proverbial popcorn over this.

Roar Lions 2024: More Harvard Angst (culions.blogspot.com) (https://culions.blogspot.com/2024/02/more-harvard-angst.html)

Roar Lions 2024: Eerily Reminiscent of... (culions.blogspot.com) (https://culions.blogspot.com/2024/02/eerily-reminiscent-of.html)

And it's a safe bet that our friends at Yale, Princeton, Penn, etc. are doing likewise.

:)

[bonarae]

Meanwhile... Go Green, Ivytalk, and the other Ivy fans here... predict how many years Aurich will last in Cambridge. My predictions say that he will only last 5 seasons at most unless he shakes the critics off.

[bulldog10jw]

Meanwhile... Go Green, Ivytalk, and the other Ivy fans here... predict how many years Aurich will last in Cambridge. My predictions say that he will only last 5 seasons at most unless he shakes the critics off.

Despite the complaints about the hiring process, he will be given every chance to succeed. Unless he is a total disaster as a recruiter, since the Harvard brand sells itself, he will have the athletes. My guess is he will be fine.

[Ivytalk]

If he gets the Ws, I see no issues. People forget that Joe Restic had some dismal years and he stayed a long time. Even Murphy had a few losing seasons. Harvard has patience.

[Go...gate]

Give the man a chance.

[Son of Eli]

Given the Ivy League philosophy, he would have to be a total disaster for him to be gone in 5 years or less. I don’t see it happening, even if he looses to Yale 5 years in a row. I say that with the caveat that the current AD stays in place for that entire period.

[bulldog10jw]

Given the Ivy League philosophy, he would have to be a total disaster for him to be gone in 5 years or less. I don’t see it happening, even if he looses to Yale 5 years in a row. I say that with the caveat that the current AD stays in place for that entire period.

The AD may have the safest job at Harvard. It's not likely they will get rid of another high ranking female employee anytime soon.

[Go Green]

If he gets the Ws, I see no issues. People forget that Joe Restic had some dismal years and he stayed a long time. Even Murphy had a few losing seasons. Harvard has patience.

Bob Surace started his Princeton career 2-20 before getting going.

And contrary to his defenders, he did NOT inherit an empty cupboard. Rather, he shook things up and it took a while to get "his" players into the system...

[Son of Eli]

When Yale hired Reno he also had no head coaching experience. He didn't even have any FBS assistant coaching experience. Harvard alums are just having trouble dealing with the fact that when it comes to college football they and the rest of the Ivy League don’t matter any more. Beggars can’t be choosers.