HEAD COACH PAUL MURPHY

Coach Murphy immediately turned a college without a baseball team into one of the most successful baseball programs in the Middle Atlantic Region. Gwynedd-Mercy, under Murphy’s guidance, has been in the PAC Championship game in eight of the past nine years since the team’s inaugural season in 1999. During that span, the Griffins have been named the PAC Regular Season Champions four times, have captured four PAC Tournament Championships and have received a berth into the prestigious NCAA Tournament five times and the ECAC Tournament twice. In 2001, the Griffins advanced to the Mid-Atlantic Regional semi-final game and came within one game of making a trip to the College World Series in just the third year of the program. In 2006, Gwynedd-Mercy received the first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in conference history when the team took a 31-15 record and regional ranking into the post season. In 2007, the Griffins were again in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship game, only this time, Coach Murphy and the Griffins accomplished something that had never been done before in the conference’s championship tournament. Gwynedd-Mercy, after losing their opening game of the PAC playoffs, 3-2, went undefeated for the remainder of the tournament to capture their third PAC Championship crown and their second straight NCAA tournament berth. The team entered the NCAA tournament with a record of 31-10, a regional ranking, and for the fourth time in the history of the program, the Griffins were ranked in the Top 25 in the country.

In 2008, year ten as a baseball program, Murphy turned in what many consider to be his best coaching performance thus far.  On a team with 18 freshmen and only two seniors, the Griffins started the season with 2 wins and 10 losses before finishing the season going 20-10 over their last 30 games – sweeping through their conference playoffs and winning the championship without losing a game.  The young Griffins secured the programs fifth NCAA tournament appearance in ten seasons and also picked up the programs sixth NCAA tournament victory.

Under Murphy’s tutelage, the Gwynedd-Mercy College baseball program is currently ranked in the Top 50 colleges and universities in winning percentage since 1990. The Griffins have placed 54 players on the All-Conference team and 12 players onto the ABCA Regional All-American team. But, the most important numbers for Coach Murphy is the fact that over 100 Gwynedd-Mercy College baseball players have been named to the Conference All-Academic team during his nine years as head coach and that over 95% of his players have graduated from college.

“At the NCAA Division III level, there are some really talented baseball players. There are many exceptional baseball teams that consistently challenge for the National Championship – and many of our baseball programs have defeated NCAA Division I and II colleges that offer baseball scholarships. NCAA Division III athletic programs are highly competitive, but we are about academics first,” says Murphy. “It is about student-athletes getting their college degree in four years and having a great experience while doing so. I am proud to be affiliated with Gwynedd-Mercy College and NCAA Division III athletics.”

Murphy graduated from NCAA Division I Saint Joseph’s University where he attended on a baseball scholarship and was named Rookie of the Year in 1989 while competing in the tough Atlantic 10 Conference. After an arm injury forced him to finish his college career a year earlier than he would have liked, Murphy started working for the Chicago Cubs from 1993-1997 as a baseball scout before being hired to start the baseball program as the first and only Head Baseball Coach in the college’s history in December of 1997.

Coach Murphy also serves as the Associate Director of Athletics at Gwynedd-Mercy College. He resides in Montgomeryville, PA with his wife Amy (Snell) a successful basketball player at Saint Joseph’s and their two-year old daughter Maddux.

» Previous Page | Baseball Home