Gene Murphy

Who was Gene Murphy?

Gene Murphy was an American football player and coach.

He was a quarterback for the University of North Dakota from 1960-1962. He then moved into an assistant coaching position, where he remained until 1977. He served as head coach for the team from 1978-1979. The team went 15-7 in his two seasons, winning the North Central Conference and advancing to the NCAA Division playoffs in 1979.

In 1980, Gene Murphy was named head football coach at California State University, Fullerton. He coached the team from 1980 to the end of the program in 1992. His team won the Pacific Coast Athletic Association championships in 1983 and 1984. The 1984 team was ranked in the National Top 20. His assistants included future NFL head coaches Steve Mariucci, Tom Cable and Hue Jackson. Notable former players include Damon Allen, Mike Pringle, Bobby Kemp, Mark Collins and Jim Thornton. In 1999, Gene Murphy was inducted into both the University of North Dakota Hall of Fame and the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Hall of Fame.

After Cal State Fullerton dropped its football program, Gene Murphy served as head coach at Fullerton College from 1993 to 2007. He remained a consultant with the program until his death. He died at age 72 on October 29, 2011 in the University of Southern California hospital in Los Angeles, four days after undergoing surgery for cancer of the esophagus. He is survived by his daughter Aileen, her mother Christine McCarthy, his two adult sons, Tim and Mike, and his four grandchildren.