John Murphy

(bio from Anderson University website)

In less than fifteen months, John Murphy has lead the AU Trojans to the 2013 NCAA tournament and is building a squad that will challnege for future titles.

After getting off to a slow start in his first season at Anderson in 2012, Murphy brought the Trojans back to life, finishing the last four matches of the season with a 3-0-1 record and AU’s third-consecutive South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship. Murphy guided three players to conference postseason awards, as Shu Ogawa earned first team all-SAC, while Lukas Hesse and Lars Zimmerman each garnered second team spots.

Ogawa went on to earn all-district and joined Hesse on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division II All-Southeast Region Team. Zimmerman also got recognized during the postseason, being named to the Daktronics Southeast All-Region Second Team.

“I am extremely pleased that Anderson University has attracted a candidate of John Murphy's caliber.” said Director of Athletics Nancy Simpson. “He brings to us a breadth of experience at a variety of levels and is also a great mission fit for the university. I look forward to the future success of the program under John's leadership and welcome him to Trojan Athletics.”

A native of Quincy, Mass. Murphy has more than 20 years of experience as a player and coach, with nearly a decade of Major League Soccer coaching experience and nine seasons at the collegiate level as well. In 2009, he became the first American citizen to work in British professional soccer as a coach when he was hired by Livingston of the Scottish First Division.

At the collegiate level, Murphy, who spent two seasons on the sidelines (2010 and 2011) with the Clemson Tigers, was recognized twice as the NSCAA New England Coach of the Year (1994 and 1999), served as the head coach at Assumption College (Worcester, Mass.) and Massasoit Community College (Brockton, Mass.), and was an assistant coach at Brown University. He won championships at each institution and was nominated for NSCAA Coach of the Year honors twice (1994 and 2000).

Murphy helped guide his teams to eight conference championships, while leading a pair of players to league Freshman of the Year honors. His Massasoit Community College squad won the 1994 NJCAA National Academic Male Team award for highest team GPA and Assumption College earned the 2000 ECAC Division II Champion