John Murphy Named Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach

March 22, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – John Murphy has been named an Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach as announced by Clemson Head Coach Mike Noonan Monday afternoon.

John Murphy has over twenty years as a player and coach at every level of the game in the United States, in addition to a growing international reputation. By joining Livingston FC of the Scottish 1st Division in 2009, he became the first American born to work in British football as a professional coach, and later as a manager. His time at Livingston was highlighted with a two month stint as head coach including a 2-1 victory over English Championship ship side Plymouth-Argyle in a pre-season friendly.

Previously, he was an instrumental force in three MLS franchise’ successes in challenging for championships as well as developing players such as Revolution goalkeeper Adin Brown, the Crew’s Jon Busch and the Rapid’s Bouna Coundol. He supported two different coaches to MLS Coach of the Year awards (Steve Nicol in 2002 and Greg Andrulis in 2004) while establishing one of the longest tenure of coaching service in MLS.

During his four seasons with the New England Revolution, the team qualified for three playoffs (2000, 2002, and 2003), won the 2002 Eastern Conference Championship, appeared in the 2001 US Open Cup, the 2002 MLS Cup, and qualified for the 2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup. In 2004, he joined the Columbus Crew, and assisted his new team to their best season ever by earning the MLS Supporter’s Shield, the Eastern Conference Championship while garnering the 2nd best goals against average in the league.

From 2005 to 2008 with Colorado, Murphy helped the overall growth of the Rapids organization in his dual role of Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development. During his four years with the club, the team earned a club record for points in a season in 2005 and advanced to the Western Conference finals in both 2005 and 2006. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Murphy was the Head Coach of the reserve team (2006 and 2007 MLS Reserve League Champions), and Director of the Rapids Youth Academy.

Murphy initially worked as the goalkeeper coach for Livingston FC from February 2009 to the end of the season overseeing the performance and development of the club¹s twelve professional and youth goalkeepers. During this time, manager Paul Hegarty was named Irn Bru Division 1 Manager of the Month for March 2009, striker Leigh Griffiths named SFL Division 1 Player of the Year, and the team finishing seventh in the league table.

A native of Quincy, Massachusetts, Murphy joined the professional ranks after a successful spell at the college level with Massasoit CC (MA), Brown University (RI), and Assumption College (MA) respectively. While winning championships at all three programs, Murphy was rewarded for his efforts with six different all-league or regional Coach of the Year awards, culminating in two NSCAA National Coach of the Year nominations (1994 and 2000). He has coached 35 All-Conference, 21 All-Region, and 5 All-Americans players as well as US National team members Robert Russell and Cory Gibbs. He served as an assistant under Noonan at Brown in 1995-97.

He used this collegiate experience to become one of the more effective talent assessors in MLS. Highlighting picks from seven MLS College Drafts, several Revolution and Rapids players became regular contributors to their clubs in throughout his tenure. Both Taylor Twellman (2002) and Pat Noonan (2004) went on to be the MLS scoring champions, Shalrie Joseph an MLS All-Star (2004), and Clint Dempsey earned the league¹s Rookie of the Year Award (2004) before moving to Fulham of the English Premiership. The 2004 Super Draft from the Revolution was rated as the leagues¹ most successful by the periodical Free Kick.

Murphy holds 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. John has an Associate¹s Degree from Massasoit CC (MA), a Bachelor¹s Degree in Physical Education from Bridgewater State College (MA) and is currently attending a course in Applied Management from the University of Warwick in Coventry, concluding in June of 2010.

He has just authored his second book on soccer released in March through World Class Coaching and as a National Staff Coach for the NSCAA, is a nationally recognized clinician. He is married to Erin Murphy and has three sons, Shay (7 years old) and Eamon, (4 years old) and Declan (born May 4, 2009).