Written by 9:53 pm Sports

Ken Murphy Brings New Energy To Men’s Soccer

After 42 years, Bill Lessig is gone and a new era for men’s soccer has begun. Ken Murphy was named the second men’s head soccer coach in college history last June, and has already brought a much-needed newness to Tempel Green.

Originally from Westport, Conn., Murphy was a standout soccer player during his days at Staples High School, where he was named to two All-State teams and one All-New England team.

Murphy continued his playing career at the University of Connecticut, where he led the Huskies to two NCAA Elite 8 appearances. In his four years at UConn, he was chosen for three All-Conference squads and was an All-New England pick twice.

Upon graduating, Murphy was drafted into the North American Soccer League by the Detroit Express. Over his professional career, Murphy played for both the Express and the Washington Diplomats, where he played alongside Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest soccer players of all time.

Following his playing career, Murphy worked for sixteen years as a successful broker on Wall Street, before returning to soccer as an Assistant Coach at Brown University in 2003.

At Brown, Murphy coached under Mike Noonan, considered to be one of the best collegiate coaches in the nation. With Murphy and Noonan running the show, the Bears won three Ivy League Championships and were consistently one of the top Division I teams in the nation.

Despite his success at Brown, however, Murphy’s decision to come to Conn was easy.

“[Conn] being a NESCAC school had a lot of appeal to me. From a personal stand point, my wife grew up in Waterford and her entire family still lives in the area,” he said. “It was always my goal when I entered coaching that I would run my own program some day…So on all fronts this job was a perfect fit.”

Murphy hopes to bring a lot of the lessons he learned at Brown to his job here at Conn.

“[Noonan’s] mentoring certainly prepared me well for my first head coaching job,” Murphy said. “There were several things I learned during my time at Brown – organization, preparation, recruiting, creating a program-culture and getting everyone to buy in – to name a few. Recruiting and the program’s culture are my priority right now. The staff and I are asking the team to focus on taking care of the little things. We feel if the process is done well, it will yield a quality product.”

Even though he’s only been here for a few months, Murphy’s plan seems to be working already. The players are responding well to his mentality and buying in to the culture he is trying to establish.

“We really like what he’s doing,” said senior Matt Addison. “We’re excited about it…There’s an intensity that wasn’t there before. It feels like I’m playing for a completely different program.”

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