Fred J. Murphy

Not to be confused with Fred T. Murphy or Fred W. Murphy.

Frederick James Murphy (February 4, 1886 – December 19, 1956)^[1] was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach and college athletics administrator. Murphy served as the head football coach at Northwestern University (1914–1918), University of Denver (1920–1922), and University of Kentucky (1924–1926), compiling a career football coaching record of 40–37–4. He was also the head basketball coach at Manhattan College (1912–1913) and at Northwestern (1914–1917), and the head baseball coach at Northwestern (1914–1916) and Kentucky (1925–1926). In addition, Murphy served as Northwestern's athletic director from 1913 to 1918.

Fred J. Murphy

Murphy in 1914
Biographical details
Born	(1886-02-04)February 4, 1886 Southville, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	December 19, 1956(1956-12-19) (aged 70) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1907–1909	Yale
Basketball
c. 1910	Yale
Baseball
c. 1910	Yale
Position(s)	Halfback (football) Guard (basketball) Center fielder (baseball)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1911	Yale (field coach)
1912–1913	Yale (advisory coach)
1914–1918	Northwestern
1920–1922	Denver
1924–1926	Kentucky
Basketball
1912–1913	Manhattan
1914–1917	Northwestern
Baseball
1914–1916	Northwestern
1925–1926	Kentucky
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1913–1918	Northwestern
Head coaching record
Overall	40–37–4 (football) 36–45 (basketball) 20–31–2 (baseball)

Playing career and family

Murphy played football, basketball, and baseball at Yale University. He was a halfback in football, a guard in basketball, and a center fielder in baseball. Murphy was a nephew of Mike Murphy and Yale Murphy.^[2]

Coaching career

Northwestern

Murphy was the 12th head coach at Northwestern University and he held that position for five seasons, from 1914 until 1918. His coaching record at Northwestern was 16–16–1. This ranks him 11th at Northwestern in total wins and tenth at Northwestern in winning percentage.^[3]

University of Denver

Murphy returned to coaching in the 1920 season to coach at the University of Denver, a coaching position he held for three seasons until 1922. At Denver, he compiled a record of 12–7–2.^[4] His best season at Denver was 1922, when the team's record was 6–1–1,^[5] second only to his 6–1 season at Northwestern in 1916.^[6]

Kentucky

Murphy's next move was to become the head coach at the University of Kentucky from 1924 to 1926. There he compiled a record of 12–14–1.

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Northwestern Purple (Western Conference / Big Ten Conference) (1914–1918)
1914	Northwestern	1–6	0–6	9th
1915	Northwestern	2–5	0–5	9th
1916	Northwestern	6–1	4–1	2nd
1917	Northwestern	5–2	3–2	T–3rd
1918	Northwestern	2–2–1	1–1	6th
Northwestern:		16–16–1	8–15
Denver Ministers/Pioneers (Rocky Mountain Conference) (1920–1922)
1920	Denver	2–4	2–4	T–5th
1921	Denver	4–2–1	2–2–1	T–4th
1922	Denver	6–1–1	3–1–1	3rd
Denver:		12–7–2	7–6–2
Kentucky Wildcats (Southern Conference) (1924–1926)
1924	Kentucky	4–5	2–3	T–14th
1925	Kentucky	6–3	4–2	7th
1926	Kentucky	2–6–1	1–4–1	T–19th
Kentucky:		12–14–1	7–9–1
Total:		40–37–4

References

1. "Read the eBook History of the Class of 1910, Yale College (Volume 1) by Yale University. Class of 1910 online for free (Page 11 of 17)".
2. "May Coach the Badgers". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. August 20, 1911. p. 20. Retrieved October 22, 2016 – via Newspapers.com .
3. Northwestern Wildcats coaching records Archived October 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
4. "Fred Murphy All-Time Coaching records". Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
5. "University of Denver 1922 football statistics". Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
6. "Northwestern 1916 football statistics". Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2008.