In the fall of 1982, a fresh-out-of-college Pat Murphy started his coaching career at a small Division III school just south of Knoxville.
Murphy had put aside his very brief career as a minor league baseball player to become an assistant football coach and head baseball coach at Maryville College. The setting was humble, but the football sideline was somewhere to start.
Fourty-four years later, Murphy's surroundings are some of the grandest in all of sports. On Oct. 23, the 67-year-old Murphy will manage the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
"We knew he was destined for greatness,” Patrick Moyer, who played football and baseball for Murphy at Maryville College, told Knox News. “There was no question about
it that Murph had huge dreams about what he was going to do in life. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s had this kind of success."
Pat Murphy started coaching career at Maryville College in early 1980s
Murphy worked with defensive backs and special teams in his lone season coaching the Scots' football team.
Having graduated from FAU earlier in the year, Murphy was barely older than his players. But he immediately garnered respect because of his work ethic and intensity. He would even participate in some drills himself.
"He was the ultimate players' coach,” Moyer said.
Murphy’s passion wasn’t just for football, though; it was for all coaching. Basketball coach Randy Lambert, a legendary figure at Maryville College, would sometimes see Murphy sitting in on his practices, never afraid to offer his opinion.
“I’d ask him, ‘How do you go about reaching somebody like this and motivating him to play at a higher level?’ ” Lambert said. “Pat always seemed to have the answer.”
Maryville College baseball was Pat Murphy's first head coaching job
Maryville College provided Murphy his first head coaching job, and he was taking over a small roster that hadn't recorded double-digit wins in a season for several years. It achieved its highest win total in a decade in 1983 with Murphy in charge.
"I think he could've been a tennis coach and had the same kind of success," Moyer said. "He's just a guy that finds a way to get the most out of you."
The team spent its 1983 spring break in Florida, and one game against a Division I school went about as expected for the Scots. One home run was hit so far that Maryville’s center fielder didn't even budge. He knew it was gone off the bat.
But Murphy wasn't having it. He jogged all the way out to center field to make a point of benching the center fielder for a perceived lack of effort.
"Needless to say it never happened again," Moyer said.
Pat Murphy stays in touch with players, coaches from Maryville College
After Maryville College, Murphy's next head coaching job was in 1985 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in California. He was then Notre Dame’s head coach from 1987-1995 and later hired by Arizona State, where over 15 seasons he led the Sun Devils to four College World Series appearances. He won exactly 1,000 games during his college coaching career.
Murphy became the Brewers' bench coach before the 2016 season and later replaced manager Craig Counsell, who left in 2023. In three seasons, Murphy has never managed a team that didn't win its division.
Murphy was named National League Manager of the Year in each of his first two full seasons, and after leading MLB in wins this year he is the favorite to win it again. The Brewers are on the precipice of their first World Series title.
Still, he keeps in touch with those from his time at Maryville.
“I could call him today, and even though he’s getting ready for the World Series, he would call me back,” Lambert said.
Two seasons ago, Murphy invited Moyer to spring training in Phoenix. They caught up during a walk on the warning track, when Murphy said he wanted to help the baseball team at Maryville College but wasn't sure how. Moyer told him that they were hoping to unveil a new scoreboard to celebrate the program's 150th anniversary.
That December, Murphy called Moyer and asked how far they were from their fundraising goal.
The week after Christmas, a check arrived from Murphy. The scoreboard went up.
"Even though it's been over 40 years," Moyer said, "he hasn't forgotten about us."
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Long before managing Brewers in World Series, Pat Murphy's career started in Maryville
