Rich Murphy - Swimming & Diving Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

KNOXVILLE, TN - 2019.11.09 - Tennessee vs Georgia Tech

Rich Murphy

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
rich.murphy@utk.edu

Rich Murphy enters his seventh season of coaching, and third as associate head coach, with the Tennessee swimming program with the 2023-24 campaign.

"I'm thrilled to announce Rich's promotion," director of swimming & diving Kredich said ahead of the 2021-22 season. "Rich is one of the best and most creative swimming coaches in the country. His ability to teach, whether it is stroke mechanics, race dynamics or training theory, is unparalleled, and we are really excited to put him in a position where our athletes and staff can benefit even more from his expertise and passion. In his time here, Rich has had a tremendous impact on our student-athletes, helping to launch swimmers into a new orbit of competitive excellence. His work has been instrumental in the successes of Olympians, SEC champions, All-Americans and USA National Team members."

In his first year as associate head coach of the Vols, the squad earned its best finish at the SEC Championships since 2001, tying for second overall behind 10 medals won, with one gold, five silver and four bronze. At the NCAA Championships, nine Vols earned 17 total All-America honors. For the year, UT broke seven program records while being ranked nationally the entire season.

Murphy was instrumental in the development of freshman Jordan Crooks, who was named SwimSwam's Breakout Swimmer of the Year after exploding on to the scene in the freestyle sprints. Crooks won gold at SECs in the 50 free, brought home silver in the 100 free and earned bronze in the 100 fly. He owns the fastest times ever by a freshman in the 50 free (18.53) and 100 free (41.16), both of which are also Tennessee program records. En route to earning seven All-America honors, he received first team honors after finishing tied for third in the 50 free and placing fifth in the 100 free, marking the only freshman in the country to qualify for the A finals in either event.

The women's team continued its recent success, as the Lady Vols won their second SEC Championship in three seasons during the 2021-22 campaign. Freshman Ellen Walshe was named the 2022 SEC Co-Swimmer of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year for her performances throughout the season. She became the first swimmer in SEC history to win the 100 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM during the same SEC Championships. She won a combined seven medals en route to being named the SEC Swimmer of the Meet and receiving the prestigious Commissioner's Trophy as the top overall points scorer.

During the 2022-23 campaign, the Vols and Lady Vols excelled with each notching top-ten finishes at NCAAs in the same season for the first time ever. Both teams also placed in the top three during the SEC Championships. The men's squad featured Jordan Crooks, the SEC Swimmer of the Year who became the second swimmer to ever swim under 18 seconds in the 50 free en route to one of his four SEC crowns. Crooks also tallied seven First Team All-American certificates, along with being the NCAA Champion in the 50 free. For the Lady Vols, Mona McSharry and Brooklyn Douthwright lead the way, each notching SEC titles as well as national runner-up finishes at NCAAs. Along with them, Josephine Fuller was awarded SwimSwam Breakout Swimmer of the Year honors after earning First Team All-American certificates in the backstrokes and three silver medals at SECs.

With a long track record of mentoring Olympians and international-caliber swimmers on the collegiate and club levels, Murphy began his time at UT working primarily with student-athletes who swim events 200 yards and longer, including open water. As associate head coach, his duties expanded to athletes competing in the entire event range, and he is responsible for the men's team's athletic and cultural development. Throughout his career, he has coached and developed more than 50 Olympians.

A current USA Swimming National Team coach, Murphy was the head coach for Team USA's open water team at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, where Vol Taylor Abbott won a silver medal. Along with Abbott, Murphy also coached David Heron, Summer Smith and Joey Tepper to national teams. Abbott and Heron also competed in the Pan Pacific Championships, while Tepper qualified for the Junior World Championships and was the 18&U National Champion. Most recently, Smith and Tepper qualified for the 2022 FINA Open Water World Championships. Smith finished as the top US swimmer in the women's 10km.

Since arriving at Tennessee, Murphy has coached SEC champions Crooks, Lyubomir Epitropov and Joey Reilman as well as numerous school record holders, including Crooks (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly), Epitropov (200 breast), Reilman (200 free, 100 back, Jarel Dillard (100 back), Tess Cieplucha (400 IM) and Sam McHugh (400 IM). Epitropov and Cieplucha both competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Murphy boasts coaching experience at five different stops at the collegiate level. He served as an assistant coach for Auburn's men's and women's national championship and SEC championship teams during the 2006-07 season. His other stops include being the head women's coach at Houston (2013-14), acting as an assistant coach at Bowling Green (2005-06) and serving as a volunteer and graduate assistant at Arizona State (2001-03).

On the club scene, Murphy spent nearly a decade helping lead the Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta. With the program, he served as the associate head coach while guiding the competitive platform. During his time, he coached several Olympians, including silver medalist Jay Litherland, Matias Koski and Andrew Rutherford, National Team members Kevin Litherland and Michael Taylor, Junior World Championships gold medalist Allen Browning and NCAA All-American Sam Lewis.

Murphy was a volunteer assistant for Club Wolverine at Michigan under coaches Bob Bowman and Jon Urbanchek when Michael Phelps trained there (2005-06) and was the head coach for Sun Devil Aquatics at Arizona State (2003-05), advanced age-group coach at Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (formerly Palo Alto Swim Club, 1998-2001), and with Los Altos Mountain View Aquatic Club (1998).