ON THE FIELD

November 15th, 2023 marked the beginning of a new era in Milwaukee Brewers history with the introduction of Pat Murphy as Manager for the 2024 Major League Baseball season. After serving under former manager Craig Counsell as Bench Coach of the Brewers, Murph was promoted to manager after a long successful career.

The 2023 MLB season marked Pat Murphy’s eighth year as the Milwaukee Brewers bench coach and his seventeenth overall season in professional baseball. After becoming the Interim Manager for the San Diego Padres in 2015, Pat Murphy’s baseball coaching career came full circle when he was named the Brewers bench coach under his former collegiate student-of-the-game, Craig Counsell, who played under Murphy at the University of Notre Dame from 1989-1992. His lifelong mentorship and friendship to the winningest Brewers manager in history has given him the opportunity to continue his journey through the major league ranks.

In his eight seasons with the Brewers under Counsell, Murphy has helped improve the Brewers’ record since joining, including a 5-win differential between 2015 and 2016, a 13-win differential between ’16 and ’17, and a 10-win improvement from ’17 to ‘18. Murphy assisted the 2018 Brewers to a tie for the highest win total in franchise history, having the best record in the National League, beating the Chicago Cubs in a decisive 163rd game, and going deep in the postseason coming within one game of the World Series. The 2018 Brewers finished with a 96-67 record, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB. In 2019, the Brewers posted an 89-73 record in the regular season for a postseason berth. During the shortened 2020 season, the Brewers once again became a postseason team, marking the first time in franchise history with 3 consecutive seasons in the playoffs. 2021 would continue that trend, as the Brewers reached the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year, achieving the feat by taking the NL Central crown with a 95-67 record, a 21% increase over the pandemic-shortened season. While narrowly missing the playoffs by one game in 2022, the 2023 team took the NL Central again, this time by 9 games, improving their record by six wins from the prior year.

On June 16th, 2015, the San Diego Padres named Pat Murphy interim manager, replacing long-tenured Padres skipper Bud Black. Murphy managed the big-league club for 96 games, ultimately finishing in fourth place in the NL West. Coach Murphy is widely viewed as a dynamic leader and impactful player developer. Prior to his promotion, the 2015 season marked Coach Pat Murphy’s third at the Triple-A level, following his successful managerial debut with the 2013 Tucson Padres and serving as the inaugural manager for the El Paso Chihuahuas in 2014.

During Murphy’s Major League managing tenure, which began nearly a third of the way through the season, the Padres recorded a 42-54 record. While taking the reins of the 2015 squad, Coach Murphy’s relentless competitive influence was evidenced by the team’s 14-11 record in one-run games and 3-2 record in extra innings. Murphy also played the familiar role player developer, as the Padres relied on heavy playing time from many younger players, most of them learning new positions in-season. In addition to the personal growth Murphy achieved in his first taste of the Major Leagues, he was also able to help a handful of Padres achieve career resurgence, including Gyorko, Spangenberg, Yangervis Solarte, Ian Kennedy, and former Murphy Sun Devil Brett Wallace.

While with the Padres, Murphy’s role in player development as an on-field instructor stretched beyond his familiar capacity as field manager. Coach Murphy served as a coordinator in Spring Training and instructional league, including the Padres’ 2013 fall instructional league held in the Dominican Republic. Murphy has had the opportunity to develop relationships with, and instruct, the complete spectrum of professional ballplayers, from recent draft and international signees, all the way to tenured Major League veterans.

Murphy spent four-and-a-half seasons managing in the minors for the Padres, including two-and-a-half in Triple-A. At the time of his promotion, Murphy’s career record in Triple-A finished at 180-171. The 2014 Chihuahuas managed to finish with a 72-72 record in their debut season, despite playing 23 of 26 consecutive April ballgames on the road. After their atypical April, the Chihuahuas were an impressive 67-51. With Murphy’s 2013 Tucson Padres finishing 77-67, 2013-2014 marked the first time since 1988-1989 that the Padres’ Triple-A team finished with a .500 or better record in back-to-back seasons. It also marked their winningest two-year period since 2004-2005. The El Paso club was 25-17 in one-run games, and an infallible 62-0 when leading after eight innings. Murphy proudly helped several players reach the big leagues, and was notorious for his humorous ways breaking the news to players being called up for the first time.

The 2013 Tucson Padres finished with the best record for a Padres Triple-A affiliate in the last decade, registering a 77-67 win-loss record. A 21-game improvement from the 2012 Tucson record, the 2013 mark was good for fifth-best in the PCL and second-best in win percentage amongst all Padres minor league affiliates in 2013. This marks the third consecutive season Coach Murphy has ranked first or second in win percentage in the Padres organization.

The Tucson Padres managed to stay in the playoff hunt until the last weekend of the regular season, despite a roster that featured 67 players (including 20 different starting pitchers) with a league-high 162 player transactions throughout the year. At year’s end, Coach Murphy received votes for PCL Manager of the Year in his Triple-A debut, a testament to his ability to lead and develop players at any level.

Coach Murphy spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons coaching the Eugene Emeralds, the Padres’ short-season affiliate. The 2011 Emeralds won both halves of the Northwest League’s season,

finishing with a 46-30 record (their best record since 2001). Their 46 wins were most amongst all short-season baseball, which includes seven minor leagues comprised of over 65 teams. The

2011 Emeralds also set a Northwest League all-time record with 14 consecutive wins. Not to be outdone, the 2012 Emeralds again finished with the top overall record in the NWL. Their 47-29 record was the highest win percentage in the Padres organization. Overall, Murphy coached 56 different players on the 2012 Emeralds, a NWL single-season record for players.

Prior to being named Emeralds manager, Murphy spent the 2010 season as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations for the Padres. In that position, Murphy fulfilled various roles in development and evaluation, including coaching in instructional ball at the Padres’ Peoria Complex, a responsibility he has continued fulfilling in all four years of his involvement with the Padres. In 2013, after spending September on Bud Black’s staff in the Major Leagues, Murphy traveled to the Dominican Republic with the Padres to once again coach instructs. In his five years of managing both minor and major league levels of the Padres organization, Murphy has compiled an 96-66 record in one-run games, and a 24-20 record in extra inning contests.

In 1995, Murphy became the third head coach in Arizona State University history, winning 629 games in 15 seasons. During his ASU tenure, Murphy established himself as one of college baseball’s premier coaches, leading the 1998 Sun Devils to the National Championship game in just his fourth season, earning him National Coach of the Year honors. Murphy’s ASU teams were dominant in the PAC-10 conference, with the highest conference and overall winning percentages and most wins amongst PAC-10 teams since 2000, resulting in four PAC-10 Coach of the Year awards. Under Murphy’s leadership, the Sun Devil program finished in the top 10 in national rankings five times over his last seven seasons and in the top five at the conclusion of three of his last five seasons, defining one of the most successful eras of the storied Sun Devil baseball program’s history. Starting in 2005, ASU made College World Series appearances in 2005, 2007, and 2009, with three straight PAC-10 titles, which had not been accomplished since Rod Dedeaux’s USC program in the mid-70’s. These feats were collectively unmatched during that five-year span. During this same period, the team’s GPA was the highest in program history and their APR was over 96 in the last three seasons. Additionally, ASU led the West Coast in attendance.

To this day, Coach Murphy is considered one of the most successful coaches in college baseball history. In his 25 year head coaching career, Murphy was the youngest coach to earn 500 victories, is one of only three coaches to reach 1,000 wins by the age of 50, and is one of only three coaches in NCAA D-I history to have a winning percentage of .600 or higher in every season as a Head Coach (minimum of 20 years as a Head Coach).

Murphy averaged 40 wins per season and was on pace to become the winningest coach in NCAA history at the time he transitioned into coaching professional baseball. Murphy is widely recognized for his strong leadership style and standard of excellence that he established both on the field and in the classroom in his programs at the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University. His three “Academic All-Americans of the Year” in his last decade of college coaching were more than any other school in the nation.

In 1988, Murphy took over a Notre Dame program with limited resources and transformed the Fighting Irish into a nationally prominent program. Murphy guided the Irish to NCAA regional finals in three consecutive seasons, each time beating the #1 team at the respective host site, and came within one win of taking Notre Dame to the 1992 College World Series. The Fighting Irish completed three seasons in the Top 16 and five in the Top 25 during Murphy’s tenure at Notre Dame. Murphy was named MCC Coach of the Year three times for his teams’ efforts. Murphy’s teams averaged 46 wins a year and brought national attention to Notre Dame baseball and rejuvenated the Irish program, resulting in the construction of a new 3,000-seat stadium in the fall of 1993. Most recently, in May 2011, the University of Notre Dame awarded Murphy an honorary monogram and named their new facilities “The Coach Pat Murphy Clubhouse.”

Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, Murphy served as head coach at California’s Claremont-Mudd Scripps Colleges from 1986-1987, where, in his first year, he led the school to its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in 11 years. He also served as assistant coach to the football team in ’85 and ’86. Murphy’s college coaching experience also includes baseball head coach at Maryville (Tenn.) College in 1983, as well as assistant football coach in 1982 and 1983. He later became assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater, Florida Atlantic University, from 1984-1985, helping the Owls transition from NAIA to immediately becoming a Top 10 team in Division II in both years.

He gained his collegiate experience as a pitcher at Florida Atlantic University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Health Studies and a master’s degree in Education. Murphy played catcher, infield and pitched for FAU, and was honored on FAU's 20th Anniversary All-Star team as a pitcher and utility player. He was an NAIA All-District player for FAU. In 2008, he was inducted into the school's Baseball Hall of Fame.

After his collegiate playing career, Murphy signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants and pitched professionally from 1982-1986 for the Giants, Padres, and independent clubs. He also served as player-manager of the Tri-City Triplets of the Northwest League (Single-A) in 1986, the youngest manager in pro-baseball at the time.

College Coaching Success

Awards and Achievements

• 1998 National Coach of the Year

• 4-time PAC-10 Coach of the Year: 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009

• 3-time MCC Coach of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1992

• Coached 47 All Americans, a National Player of the Year, and 3 Golden Spikes Award Semi-finalists

• Has coached 39 collegiate players who have made it to the major leagues. Eighteen of the 38 MLB players were undrafted out of high school

• ASU: 629-284-1

• ND: 318-116-1

• D-I: 947-400-2

• Overall: 1,000-457-4

• Postseason NCAA record of 55-32, including 9-7 in the College World Series, averaging 2+

wins per appearance

• Compiled a 150-103 1-run game record and 31-24 extra inning record at ASU & ND

• Inducted in Hall of Fame, Christian Brothers Academy High School in New York

• Inducted in Hall of Fame, Florida Atlantic University

• Awarded an honorary monogram by The University of Notre Dame in May 2011

• Honored by Notre Dame Baseball in May 2011 with the naming of the “Coach Pat Murphy” clubhouse

National Prominence

• Murphy's ASU Baseball teams finished in the top five nationally in three of his last five

seasons. Only one other coach, has matched this performance in college baseball

• Took ASU to the national championship game in just his fourth season (1998)

• 12 of Murphy’s former assistants went on to become Division-I head coaches

• Finished in the top 10 nationally in five of the last seven seasons, a feat matched by only one other school

• Established NCAA record 506 consecutive games (1995-2004) without being shut out

• From 2005-2009, ASU led the West Coast in attendance and had the highest team GPA in program history, while maintaining an APR of 96 from 2007-2009.

• His ASU teams were ranked in the Top 10 for 47 consecutive weeks from 2007 to the end of Murphy's tenure in 2009, a feat matched by very few in their college coaching careers

• Murphy's teams have finished in the top 40 in each of his 22 seasons as a D-I head coach, including the following national rankings:

• 12 finishes in the top 16; 8 finishes in the top 12; 4 finishes in the top 5; 3 finishes in the top 3

• At Notre Dame, Murphy led the Irish to three final 16 finishes and five top 25 finishes

Conference Dominance

• Three straight Pac-10 championships 2007, 2008 and 2009. The 2010 team was coached by Murphy through the fall and went on to win the 2010 PAC-10 title

• Highest winning percentage and most wins among Pac-10 teams since 2000, both conference and overall

• Only coach of a major conference to capture three consecutive conference titles during last seven seasons

• ASU had not been swept in Murphy's last 11 years of conference play, the longest streak of any major conference program

• Against rival U of A, teams under Murphy only lost the season series twice in fifteen years. ASU had an impressive 47-27 record against the Wildcats during that time frame.

• While at Notre Dame Murphy's team won the MCC conference title five of seven years

Player Development

• ASU had more players drafted (119) by MLB teams than any other school from ’95-’09

• All but two of these 119 players improved their draft status after playing for Murphy. Both of those players suffered injuries during their college career

• Of the 119 players, 44 went undrafted out of high school or junior college, and 11 have been selected in the top 10 rounds after having gone undrafted

• Coach Murphy has had 38 former collegiate players make it to the major league level, and many of Major League Baseball's brightest stars developed under Murphy:

o Dustin Pedroia – Undrafted out of HS, 2nd round out of ASU. Boston Red Sox team Hall of Famer. 14 years Red Sox. 2-time World Series champion, 2007 AL Rookie of the Year, 2008 AL MVP, 4-time All Star, 4-time Gold Glove, 2008 Silver Slugger, 2013 Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year.

o Andre Ethier – Undrafted out of HS, 2nd round out of ASU. 2-time All Star, 2009 NL Silver Slugger, 2009 MLB Clutch Performer of the Year, 2011 Gold Glove. 12-year Dodger.

o Jason Kipnis – Undrafted out of HS, 2nd round out of ASU. 2-time All Star, 2013 MVP vote recipient, 10-year starter at 2B for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs

o Craig Counsell – Undrafted out of HS, senior sign (11th round) out of Notre Dame. 17-year MLB career, two-time World Series champion, and hired as Milwaukee Brewers manager in 2015, Current Manager of the Chicago Cubs

o Willie Bloomquist – Undrafted out of HS, 3rd round out of ASU. 14 MLB seasons, 2 trips to the postseason, once described by ESPN.com as one of baseball's top 5 grittiest players. Became special assistant to Diamondbacks President. Current Head Coach at Arizona State University

o Kole Calhoun - Undrafted out of HS and Junior College, 8th round out of ASU, 2015 Gold Glove Award, 12-year career with the Angels, Diamondbacks, Rangers, & Guardians

o Mike Leake - Straight from college to MLB; drafted in the 8th round as a position player out of HS, 1st round as a pitcher out of ASU, 10 MLB seasons, 2019 Gold Glove Recipient

o Eric Sogard – Undrafted out of HS, 2nd round out of ASU. 11-year MLB career, 4 postseasons

o Brooks Conrad – Undrafted out of HS, 8th round out of ASU. 6-year MLB career

o Tuffy Gosewisch – Undrafted out of HS. 5-year MLB career, became starting catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015.

• Murphy’s former players occupied 57 MLB roster spots from 2010-2013, most of any current or former college head coach during that span

Additional Coaching Accolades

Academic Achievements

• Highest GPA in ASU program history in each of Murphy’s last four semesters

• Above 96 APR for the last three years

o ’06-’07 (98.8), ’07-’08 (96.6), ’08-’09 (96.0)

• Three Academic All-Americans of the year in the past decade (more than any other D-I school)

Attendance

• ASU had the highest attendance on the West Coast seven of Murphy’s last eight years

• 2009 marked ASU’s highest average attendance since 1984 with 3,207 fans per game

An advocate for international baseball, Murph was named the Manager of the Dutch Olympic baseball team in the 2000 Sydney Games, after a previous stint coaching the 1987 Dutch Team that qualified for the 1988 Olympics.

• Led the Dutch to three wins including a victory over Cuba, ending Cuba’s 20-0 unbeaten record in Olympic baseball

• Beat the Gold Medal USA team in pre-Olympic tournament in Australia

• In 1987, the Murphy-coached Dutch won the European Championship in Barcelona, Spain qualifying them for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea

Born November 28, 1958, Pat grew up in Syracuse, NY where he showed an affinity for sports at a young age, with a love for boxing, baseball, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.