Mike Murphy is set to begin his first season as an assistant coach on the Nittany Lions staff. Murphy brings 19 years of collegiate coaching experience, including seven seasons as a head coach at the Division I level.
Murphy spent the past three years coaching at the prep level and professional level, serving as the head coach of The Hill School in the lacrosse hotbed that is eastern Pennsylvania since 2018 and as an assistant on the staff of the Whipsnakes in the Premier Lacrosse League for its first three seasons.
With Murphy in charge of the defense and goalkeepers, the Whipsnakes won titles in each of the first two seasons of the Premier Lacrosse League's existence and advanced to the championship game for the third-consecutive year in 2021. Murphy will now work alongside current Penn State assistant coach John Haus, who is a midfielder on the Whipsnakes.
Prior to his time with the Hill School and the Whipsnakes, Murphy was the head coach of the Colgate lacrosse team for seven seasons from 2012-2018, leading the Raiders to two NCAA Tournament appearances, two Patriot League regular season titles and two Patriot League Tournament championships.
Murphy's first season at Colgate in 2012 was one of the most successful in program history. The Raiders won the Patriot League regular season title and went on to beat No. 1 Massachusetts in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The team went 6-2 against nationally-ranked opponents that year and set single-season program records in points (365), goals (236) and assists (129). He coached the program's only Tewaaraton Award winner in Peter Baum.
Colgate went 57-51 during Murphy's time as head coach. The Raiders earned one first-team All-America honor, five honorable-mention All-America nods, one Academic All-America award, one Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honor, four Patriot League Rookie of the Year accolades and 26 All-Patriot League awards. The Raiders added Patriot League regular season and Tournament titles in 2015.
Murphy put in the work before getting his first head coaching job, including eight seasons as an assistant coach at Army. He led the Black Knights to one of the best defenses in the Patriot League throughout his time with the program. The defense played a pivotal role as Army upset two-time defending NCAA champion Syracuse by a 9-8 score in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Before heading to West Point, Murphy picked up early experience at numerous schools, starting with one season at Merrimack before spending one season at Pfeiffer, three at Wingate and two at Denison.
Murphy is a 1996 graduate of New Hampshire, where he was a three-year letterwinner on the men's lacrosse team.