The Daily Northwestern

It’s pouring rain, and many fans have decided to stay home and skip the midweek lacrosse game at the Lakefill.

But the weather can’t keep away Mark Murphy.

He stands on the sideline in a Northwestern windbreaker and baseball cap, taking in the game. With his calm, quiet manner, he is easily missed among the diehard fans screaming for the Wildcats.

In his first year as NU’s director of athletics, Murphy’s presence and demeanor have improved the morale of the athletic department. Murphy’s actions haven’t made headlines, but the changes he’s made have started to reshape NU athletics — a program he hopes to make a national model of success.

“If this has been a quiet, laid-back year for him, what would an active one look like?” NU President Henry Bienen said. “He’s had a great first year. I’ve never met anybody on our board or people he deals with that are not terrifically enthusiastic about him. I think he’s made a very good impression on our coaches and student athletes.”

Soliciting suggestions

Murphy, 48, came to NU with a mind-boggling resume: a three-sport athlete at Colgate, Super Bowl champion, Pro Bowler, U.S. Justice Department attorney, sports commentator for National Public Radio and, most recently, athletic director at Colgate. He is also the father of four children, including a daughter who plays basketball at Harvard and another who plays soccer at Middlebury.

When Murphy took over at NU in June 2003, he looked to former director of athletics Rick Taylor and his senior staff for assistance. Taylor stayed on board for a month and a half after Murphy took charge, and Murphy still calls him time to time.

“Your impulse is to make a number of changes right away,” Murphy said. “But I think some times it might be better taking a little while and evaluating everything before you start making changes.

“But there are some things I think that made sense to change right away.”

To start, Murphy implemented a standardized process for athletes to provide feedback about their program at the end of each season.

The players sign their name to the evaluations, which are similar to the CTEC surveys NU students fill out about their courses. Murphy reads them before passing them on to the coaches.

“It seems like he’s really interested in trying to figure out things to improve,” said Jeremy Cook, who played soccer last fall and graduated in the winter. “I think it’s great he’s open to suggestions.”

Murphy showed how much he values student-athlete input when he made the biggest decision of his first year. He chose not to renew the contract of former women’s basketball coach June Olkowski, bringing in three candidates to interview for the job.

While the coaches were on campus, Murphy let the players spend an hour with each of them. After the meeting, Murphy took notes about what the team thought of the coaches.

“It’s fantastic what he let us do,” junior Suzanne Morrison said. “I know at other schools the athletes don’t even know who the candidates are.”

The players gave their vote of confidence to two of the three candidates. However, instead of selecting their favorite, Murphy hired Beth Combs, who worked under him as the women’s coach at Colgate.

“You want to get input from student-athletes,” Murphy said. “But ultimately I’m going to make the decision based on who I think is the best person for the job.”

Come Together

Murphy hates his office. It’s spacious, comfortable, well-decorated and quiet.

Too quiet.

“I feel very isolated here, and there are never any coaches or student-athletes that come into this facility,” Murphy said, sitting in his office on the south end of Ryan Field.

So late last summer Murphy decided to move the administrative offices to the second floor of the new Anderson-Burton building.

The $10-million project set to be completed in April 2005 is located just east of Welsh-Ryan Arena and will house many of the coaches’ offices, as well as academic advisors for the athletes.

“All athletes will use that building, and it will be like a 7-Eleven because we’ll always be going in and out of there,” Morrison said.

Murphy wants to be right in the center of the action, which is a change in style from Taylor, the former athletic director. Taylor worked more behind the scenes, concentrating on improving facilities.

“I saw Mark Murphy at more events this year than I saw Rick Taylor in the previous three years combined,” NU senior pitcher Dan Konecny said. “You can see he’s genuinely interested in the students.”

Murphy’s says he finds being around college students invigorating.

His wife says he returns e-mails late at night and will bring his administration duties home so he doesn’t have to miss a game or a team function.

And it shows.

“Our girls know who he is and they see him at our games,” NU lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “His presence and personality makes a big difference off the field.”

“It’s more than just him showing up,” NU men’s tennis coach Paul Torricelli said. “He’s a real advocate for coaches and athletes.

“He’s really improved the morale of the department.”

Several coaches commended Murphy’s commitment to work with them to solve problems, and volleyball coach Keylor Chan praised Murphy for “not putting himself above anyone else.”

Murphy will make appearances at the staff’s noon pick-up basketball games, and he brings together the whole staff for quarterly meetings instead of just yearly gatherings.

After Associate Athletic Director Ken Kraft announced in January that he will retire at the end of the year, Murphy decided to restructure the department so each of the six senior administrators will oversee several sports. Previously, three administrators monitored all 19 teams. Murphy hopes the change will result in more interaction between administrators and athletes.

“He’s as close to a perfect fit as there is for NU,” said Kraft, who has been involved with NU athletics since 1953. “I really feel good about where we are going.”

Family outing

Murphy’s family said he doesn’t reminisce much about his playing days, and his primary competition now comes on the golf course.

Murphy’s son, Brian, who played football, basketball and baseball as a ninth-grader at Evanston Township High School this year, keeps him company on the course. But Murphy hasn’t been able to make it an activity for the whole family.

“I’m not going to waste my summer days playing golf,” said his 21-year-old daughter, Katie.

But Katie Murphy admits she was a Colgate groupie growing up. She remembers piling into the family car after dinner to go to Colgate sporting events.

Katie Murphy hasn’t had a chance to see many NU games while playing basketball at Harvard this year, but she still knows about the Cats.

“If you ask him how he’s doing, he will usually respond by saying how the Northwestern football team is doing,” said Katie Murphy, who laughs when she thinks about her dad’s fondness for “stupid” movies with Bill Murray or Leslie Nielsen.

Murphy still brings his younger children to NU contests, and he can’t hide his disappointment about low attendance at NU football games last season.

After students complained about increased prices for single-game football tickets, he tried to make midseason adjustments to address their concerns. He couldn’t overhaul prices, but he allowed students to buy a guest ticket at the student rate.

This winter, he strongly supported the $25-a-year student athletic fee that will allow students to walk into all sporting events.

“We are going to continue to be more aggressive in terms of pricing for football,” Murphy said. “I think we can do some things to help increase attendance, and we are going to look particularly at the end-zone seats.”

But improving the playing environment isn’t limited to Ryan Field. Murphy added paintings and d
escriptions of past NU greats in the halls of Welsh-Ryan, and set up a curtain to block off the arena’s upper deck for sporting events that attract smaller crowds, such as women’s basketball, wrestling and volleyball contests.

“By making the arena smaller, the atmosphere seems bigger,” said Morrison, a forward on the women’s basketball team. “All the changes that are happening are all Mark. It’s the little things you don’t even think about that make a big difference.”

But Murphy isn’t a man who basks in the limelight — or makes headlines — and his wife, Laurie Murphy, recalls that he was a shy young man when they met at Colgate, where he majored in economics and she majored in social relations.

Laurie Murphy said her husband never loses his cool, and she still remembers how he displayed the same emotion when he left the locker room as a Super Bowl winner in 1982 and a Super Bowl loser the following season.

“He’s the most easygoing person I’ve ever met in my life,” Laurie Murphy said. “But he’s very determined and just gets up and does things. He’s not a hyper high-energy guy, so you don’t realize how much he does.”

Striving for Prominence

When Murphy decided to uproot his family and leave his alma mater, he was well-aware of NU’s past struggles on the field. He knows quite well that the toughest task will be to field competitive teams with the school’s academic standards.

That challenge is the reason he came to NU.

“The chance to really be a role model nationally for schools and show that you don’t have to sacrifice your academic standards excites me,” Murphy said. “You can have student-athletes that are legitimate students and graduate about the same rate as the overall student body and still have great success.”

But Murphy remains realistic about his teams’ chances. He said a winning record would be a success next season for a football team that faces a daunting schedule.

Murphy’s face lights up when he thinks about the potential of teams such as women’s tennis, lacrosse and men’s swimming.

“I can see our program taking off,” Murphy said. “Men’s basketball is positioned where I feel confident we’ll be in the NCAA tournament soon.

“That could be a real positive not just for men’s basketball but for the overall athletic program. It would give us some credibility nationally that we don’t have.”

And Murphy views athletic success as an asset to the whole university. He noted that when sports teams achieve recognition in the media, it also brings attention to a school’s strong academic reputation.

“I just think he’s one of best things to happen to our school,” said Suzi Sutton, a former field hockey player who served as the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. “There have already been improvements in all of our programs, and people better start watching out for NU.”

Murphy has shown he doesn’t need to make radical changes to transform his athletic program.

“He’s done a lot of little things, and I expect even bigger things,” said Chan, the volleyball coach. “Mark is going to put his signature stamp on this program, and I’m excited about the direction he’s taking us.”

No athlete, coach or administrator said anything remotely negative about Murphy. And when asked what he could have done better in his first year, Murphy had to pause and think.

“Well it’s so early,” Murphy said as he struggled for an answer. “I’m not saying I’ve done everything perfectly.”

He doesn’t have to say it — everyone else is.