NEW PALESTINE — Brian Murphy is just now getting to see the inside of New Palestine High School, but he’s always liked what he’s seen from the outside.
At the July Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County board meeting, Murphy was approved to be the school’s next athletic director. He takes over for longtime AD Al Cooper, who retired after this past school year. A 1979 graduate of New Palestine and longtime successful coach at the school, Cooper had been the school’s athletic director for the last 13 years.
“I’m walking in the doors and not knowing where everything is yet, just trying to find my way around,” Murphy, who started his new job on July 17, said.
“I’ve seen from other dugouts and other sidelines and I’ve always thought New Pal athletes — and this is mostly from a baseball perspective, but in basketball, too, in a handful of games throughout the years — it just seems no matter who they were playing against they never thought they were going to lose,” Murphy said.
“You’ve seen teams, whether basketball, football, whatever sport, they’ll go up against a superior opponent and they never seem to back down,” he added. “I’ve always admired that. There was never a backdown factor, ‘We put the work in we’re going to walk out there and we’re as good as anybody’ and I think that’s pretty cool.”
Murphy comes to NPHS from Southport High School. He was the athletic director there for the last three years and was an assistant AD for the Cardinals and the athletic director at Perry Meridian Middle School while in the Perry Township school system for eight years.
Prior to that, he spent 11 years teaching at Warren Central, where he coached baseball for eight years. During his time at Warren he was also the head baseball coach at Greenfield-Central for two seasons, including a year where he led the Cougars to a sectional championship.
Murphy was a three-sport athlete at Cardinal Ritter High School, graduating in 1986. He is a graduate of Hanover College, where he played baseball for the Panthers. He also coached baseball at Ritter and Speedway high schools.
“Southport was really good, but I just think New Pal is a special place in terms of the community and the support,” Murphy said.
The new AD comes into a good situation. The Dragons have been competitive up and down the sports lineup in recent years. Since 2004, the program has won 10 state championships, six in softball (2004, 2007, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019), three in football (2014, 2018, 2019) and one in baseball (2004). There have been seven individual state titles since 2009 and eight overall. Chad Red won four straight wrestling titles from 2013-16. Kyle Ulrey (2009) and Alec White (2017) were also state title winners in wrestling. Samuel Voelz (2017) and Lorrie Swegman (1976) won championships in track and field.
Last season, girls golf, football, boys basketball, boys swimming, and baseball won sectional titles. Baseball also won a regional crown. Girls tennis won a county championship, while boys and girls wrestling and boys track and field took individuals to state championship events.
“It’s not a fix,” Murphy said. “It’s not a place you come in and you think you have to fix everything. It’s a place where you’ve really just got to keep it rolling.”
Murphy said he hasn’t met all the school’s coaches yet, but will have a meeting with everyone next week.
He’s eager to meet the staff and athletes, as well as watching them all compete.
“It’s not a situation where I come in and want to change this or change that,” he said. “Really, it’s about me getting to know the coaches and how I can support them and then knowing how the athletic department can support the kids — the reason why we’re here. It’s always a people business, but right now it’s getting to know the people as much as anything.
“I’m ready for the lights to go on and ready for the kids to be there practicing and working out. I’m ready to see that. I’m excited as I’ve been in a long time.”
