{"id":10349,"date":"2012-03-14T03:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T07:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=10349"},"modified":"2015-07-13T11:55:21","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T15:55:21","slug":"coaching-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=10349","title":{"rendered":"Coaching Course"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

John Murphy (right), seen here with former Revolution goalkeeper Adin Brown, served as an assistant coach for the Revs from 2000 till February of 2004. (Photo by Art Donahue\/artdonahue.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Taylor Twellman, Sharie Joseph, Pat Noonan, Clint Dempsey \u2013 four stars of the New England Revolution in the 2000s that came through the MLS SuperDraft thanks in part to John Murphy\u2019s input into the team’s draft decisions. Draft picks can\u2019t all be winners, but when Murphy was on the staff, there sure seemed to be a lot more hits than misses for the Revs.<\/p>\n

Murphy, an assistant coach for the Revolution from 2000 to February of 2004, played a key role in a series of successful drafts that helped to spark the team to their impressive run in the early-mid 2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, back around 2000-2001, I think people really weren\u2019t taking the time to go to the colleges and certainly not calling the college coaches,\u201d said Murphy, now an assistant coach at Clemson University. \u201cThere are so many great college coaches that I think would\u2019ve done very well in MLS as professional coaches, but they chose to stay in college and these people know the game and they certainly know players.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, one, I wasn\u2019t afraid to get on the phone and call people and, two, I wasn\u2019t afraid of jumping in the car and driving somewhere or jumping in a plane and flying somewhere just to see people play,\u201d added Murphy, who at the time of this interview was driving back from a recruiting trip for Clemson. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was anything special. I don\u2019t think it was anything with having a great eye for talent. I think I just worked very hard and it paid off most of the time. Not everyone we drafted worked out, but I think most of them did and in this business that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such scouting trips were hardly a new concept to Murphy upon joining the Revolution. The Quincy, Mass. native had plenty of experience with recruiting trips as a college coach. Prior to moving up to the professional ranks, he helped coach Massasoit Community College, Brown University (under Mike Noonan) and Assumption College (where he was given the head coaching duties) to championship titles at each school and earned six different all-league or regional Coach of the Year awards.<\/p>\n

But, despite all that success at the college level, Murphy\u2019s position with the Revs was hardly handed to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be at Brown University and a colleague of mine at Brown, Derek Aframe, was working in the Revolution organization when Fernando [Clavijo] took over,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cThey needed a part time goalkeeper coach and Derek brought my name forward. I interviewed with Fernando, it was the first time I had met him. He said, \u2018look you have a great resume and great references, but I\u2019ve never seen you coach before, why don\u2019t you come in and do a week of training and we\u2019ll see how it goes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, Murphy was essentially on trial as goalkeeper coach. Three days later he had earned himself the job. What started as a part-time position as goalkeeper coach in 2000 turned into a full-time job as assistant coach and director of youth development tasked with helping get the original Revs youth academy off the ground a year later.<\/p>\n

By 2002, the Revolution coaching staff recognized Murphy\u2019s knowledge of the college game and he became heavily involved in the team\u2019s drafting. That year the team\u2019s SuperDraft picks included stars Taylor Twellman and Shalrie Joseph in the first two rounds and a fourth round pick in Marshall Leonard who became a regular contributor.<\/p>\n

When Steve Nicol took over midway through the 2002 season, he made Matt Driver his \u201cright hand guy\u201d, but kept Murphy, whom he was originally an assistant with under Clavijo, on board. The trio led the team to its first MLS Cup final in 2002 with Nicol winning MLS Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Murphy and the Revs continued their draft success in 2003. Although the team traded away several picks, it added Pat Noonan in the first round and reached the Eastern Conference final. In 2004, with just four\u00a0picks at their disposal, the Revs grabbed Clint Dempsey, now a star in the English Premier League with Fulham and with the U.S. National Team, in the first round, Jeremiah White, who just signed with the Revs after stints in Europe, in the third round, and Felix Brilliant and Andy Dorman, who impressed with the Revs before going to Scotland, both in the sixth round.<\/p>\n

Leaving home<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the 2004 draft would be the last for Murphy in New England. He left shortly after Dempsey, White and Dorman were selected to join the Columbus Crew as an assistant coach. Without the youth academy role at Columbus, Murphy was now working fulltime with the first team \u2013 a move he was ready to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t necessarily leave because I wanted to leave, but there was interest from other clubs in MLS and Columbus seemed like a good situation for me,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cThe way I saw it was either take one of these jobs or I\u2019m going to be in New England for the rest of my life, which I don\u2019t think would\u2019ve been the worst thing in the world, but I just figured that would be the time to try something and branch out a little bit, so that\u2019s what brought me to Columbus in 2004.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crew would win the Supporters\u2019 Shield as the best regular season team in 2004 before losing to the Revolution in the playoffs. Head coach Greg Andrulis was named MLS Coach of the Year marking the second time in three years the MLS Coach of the Year had Murphy as an assistant.<\/p>\n

Yet, for the second time in two years, Murphy was on the move. When Clavijo took over as head coach in Colorado in 2005, he offered Murphy a chance to finally be his primary assistant coach and help launch their youth academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy working with kids and I enjoy the academy work,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cI\u2019m proud that both the New England academies and the Colorado academies are fantastic. They\u2019re big, they\u2019re comprehensive and certainly even bigger than what we envisioned back at the time when we started them. But, I take a lot of pride that we got both those programs off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very happy to go out to Colorado,\u201d added Murphy, who stayed with the Rapids through 2008. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful place, fantastic new stadium and the team that won MLS Cup (in 2010) were a lot of guys that we brought in, so lots of good feelings for my time out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the pond<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was after leaving Colorado when Murphy\u2019s career took its most surprising turn. The man who was born and raised in New England and had spent his entire coaching career in the region prior to his stints in Columbus and Colorado was headed for a move across the Atlantic to Scotland.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother\u2019s from Scotland and I\u2019d been going over to Scotland for years doing my coaching badges,\u201d said Murphy, who has attained the prestigious UEFA Professional Badge from the Scottish Football Association, a U.S. Soccer “A” License, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and is the first foreign born coach to earn a UEFA “A” Goalkeeper Coaching Badge from the English Football Association. \u201cIf I had any free time I\u2019d go over and watch games and spend time at training with different clubs. You get to know people just like you would in any way of life \u2013 you network a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

After leaving Colorado, Murphy headed to Scotland for three months to finish up his UEFA Pro Badge. Staying in one of his agent\u2019s apartments for free in Glasgow city center allowed Murphy to travel to different clubs and make connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a lot of work with Falkirk FC with (then head coach) John Hughes working with their goalkeepers purely as a volunteer,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cA position opened up at Livingston and I had the chance to work there as a goalkeeper coach and an assistant coach under Paul Hegarty, who was a fantastic guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, things quickly turned sour for Livingston. With the club in severe financial troubles, Hegarty was suspended as manager without explanation while the club let his contract expire. David Hay, then the director of football, was appointed managed on an interim basis, but never wanted to keep the job long term. The club offered Murphy the chance to make history. Already the first American to work in British football as an assistant, he became the first American to work in Britain as a head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Hay] didn\u2019t want the job full time and they offered it to me,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cI was kind of apprehensive out of loyalty to Paul, but Paul gave me his blessing, so I took the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy was appointed head coach on June 30, 2009 with the team struggling to meet their financial obligations. As a result, Livingston was forced to sell its top players. On July 24, Livingston was placed into administration. By mid-August, after an ownership change, the head coach position was taken from Murphy and given to Gary Bollan without Murphy getting a chance to coach a single league game. Murphy\u2019s brief stint in charge was highlighted by a 2-1 preseason victory over English Championship side Plymouth-Argyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I had it for 49 days, which I think is five days longer than Brian Clough was at Leeds United,\u201d Murphy joked. \u201cI can\u2019t say it was the longest tenure in the history of football, but it was a great time. I really enjoyed it. I thought the players responded really well to me and it was a very enjoyable time, albeit too short.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to college<\/strong><\/p>\n

Murphy was soon given a chance to head back to the United States and back into college coaching again with Mike Noonan. This time Noonan, a legend at Brown for leading the team to 10 NCAA tournaments in his 15 years as head coach there, was headed to Clemson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back basically in November of 2009,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cMike and I always stayed in touch over the years and there were some inklings that something might happen at Clemson, so we started to talk a little bit and then he took the job in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked me if I wanted to come down and work for him and I said yes,\u201d Murphy continued. \u201cMike is someone I feel is one of the best coaches in the country. He\u2019s certainly been a mentor of mine and someone that I\u2019ve known for a long time. I\u2019d never been to Clemson before, but the people that I\u2019d worked with before, particularly in MLS, spoke so highly of it and really thought it was a special place. When I went down for my interview I was really impressed. It was a no brainer for me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Murphy has moved clubs several times in the past ten years, don\u2019t expect him to leave Clemson anytime soon. He and his family are enjoying the comfortable climes of South Carolina and Murphy is committed to helping Noonan bring Clemson back to prominence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one thing the past couple of years has taught me \u2013 I don\u2019t think I was ever a slacker with my work, I\u2019ve always been a hard worker, but I was certainly someone that was always looking ahead and ambitious,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cBut, I don\u2019t think ambitious in a bad way \u2013 ambitious because I enjoy what I do. The last couple of years have taught me is \u2018you know what, you need to find a good place and if you\u2019re at a good place really focus on doing the best you can there and then if something comes from that all the better.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I\u2019m really focusing on Clemson,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty comprehensive job to get it back up where it was \u2013 two national championships, 13 ACC titles. I feel like I owe Mike quite a bit, so I\u2019m really obligated to make sure that I\u2019m focusing on my job here and trying to get us back to national prominence, which is not going to be easy and is going to be a multi-year project, so I\u2019ve given Mike a multiple year commitment. I\u2019m not looking at anything beyond that, whether it be college, pro, high school, youth \u2013 I\u2019m here at Clemson and for the short term that\u2019s all I\u2019m focusing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spreading experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, even with all the time commitments to Clemson, Murphy recently found time to publish his second book. Through Word Class Coaching Murphy published his first book, The Full Season Goalkeeper Training Program<\/a><\/em>, while with the Revs \u2013 detailing every training session with the Revs goalkeepers on their way to the 2002 MLS Cup. Since returning to the U.S., Murphy completed his second book, Team Training for the Goalkeeper<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly for those of us that don\u2019t have fulltime goalkeeper coaches or if you\u2019re kind of stretched for time, you\u2019re trying to get as much as you can in a short amount of time, I\u2019ve always been a big believer in getting the goalkeepers into the warm-ups as quickly as possible and not separating them so much,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cBasically that\u2019s what the book is about. I think it\u2019s a good book for a coach at any level because a lot of times in the pros I\u2019d integrate the goalkeepers right into the warm-up and I think the goalkeepers and the team appreciated when you can get everybody in there together and it builds that chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also builds in the philosophy that the goalkeeper\u2019s a soccer player first,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not its own sport; it\u2019s a position within a sport. I think sometimes goalkeeper specialty can go a little too far. First and foremost they\u2019ve got to be a soccer player. If you look at [Revs goalkeeper] Matt Reis, he\u2019s fantastic with his feet. He can take penalties. You can probably play Matt Reis as a functional striker in MLS and he would do decently. He\u2019s a great example of your prototypical modern goalkeeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy also recently released two DVDs about goalkeeper training through Championship Productions<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Keeping up with the hometown team<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not coaching, recruiting for Clemson or writing books and creating instructional DVDs, Murphy still finds time to follow MLS and is a subscriber to the MLS Direct Kick package. One team he\u2019ll be keeping an eye on this year: New England, where Jay Heaps, who played under Murphy in New England from 2001-2003, is now the head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cJay\u2019s a natural leader,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cHe\u2019s got charisma. He\u2019s a fantastic competitor. I always used to say if you were playing a small sided game you always want Jay on your team because Jay\u2019s teams would always win. You can count on Taylor [Twellman] always scoring goals and you can count on Jay Heaps always winning games. I think it\u2019s a great fit for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people need to understand and appreciate what Steve Nicol did over ten years and I think people will have more appreciation for that as the time gets further away, but I think Steve\u2019s time needs to be properly recognized by Revolution supporters,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt really was tremendous, but all things in soccer change and if you\u2019re going to make a change I think bringing Jay in is a great one. He\u2019s a New England kid; he\u2019s going to bring a ton of energy and commitment to it. He has a great mind for the game and obviously a very bright guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy has already spoken to Heaps a couple times and offered his advice if Heaps ever needs it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has my full support,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cHe knows that and I told him he could reach out to me any time if he wants advice on these college kids coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Murphy\u2019s track record, Heaps would be wise to give the experienced coach a call around draft day each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quincy\u2019s John Murphy\u2019s coaching career has seen him go from Massasoit CC to the Revs to Scotland and now to Clemson University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/murphyfeature.jpg?fit=490%2C240","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10349"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36889,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10349\/revisions\/36889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}