The Milwaukee Brewers are expected to hire Pat Murphy as the 20th manager in franchise history. The news, first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, was met with mostly negative reactions from Brewers fans. After the departure of Craig Counsell, which many view as one of the biggest betrayals in Wisconsin sports history, general manager Matt Arnold revealed that Murphy was in “real conversations” to be the team’s next manager.
Brewers expected to name Pat Murphy their new manager, sources tell @TheAthletic. Murphy, Craig Counsell’s former coach at Notre Dame and his bench coach in Milwaukee from 2015 to ‘23, would become his rival in the NL Central.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 14, 2023
In fact, Murphy was the only candidate publicly named by the Brewers, leading many to believe he was going to get the job before it was even announced. After Rosenthal broke the news, Adam McCalvy, who covers the Brewers for mlb.com, reported that former second baseman Rickie Weeks is expected to be named as Murphy’s bench coach.
A source confirmed to MLB dot com @Ken_Rosenthal‘s report that the Brewers are finalizing plans to promote Pat Murphy to manager. It’s expected they will name former Milwaukee infielder Rickie Weeks to fill Murphy’s former spot on the staff. The club has not confirmed.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) November 14, 2023
Weeks, of course, played for the Brewers from 2005-2014 (besides a brief callup shortly after he was drafted in 2003). Now, Milwaukee is set to begin a new era fresh with young talent that will be led by familiar faces.
Pat Murphy: the 20th Manager in Milwaukee Brewers History
Murphy was first hired by the Brewers to serve as Counsell’s bench coach in 2015. Prior to that, he had already had a long and successful career as a baseball coach.
In 1988, Murphy was hired to be the head coach of the Notre Dame baseball team, where Counsell was one of his star players. In seven seasons with the Fighting Irish, Murphy led the team to a 318-116-1 record (.732 winning percentage).
In 1995, Murphy accepted the head coach position with Arizona State University. In 15 seasons with the Sun Devils, Murphy was 629-284-1 (.688 winning percentage). During his tenure, he took Arizona State to the College World Series four times and became the youngest collegiate baseball coach to reach 500 career victories.
Murphy resigned his position in 2015 amid an investigation that the baseball program had committed some recruiting violations. After the investigation was concluded, it was found that Murphy was innocent of all accusations, but had been brash with investigators, which led to his somewhat forced resignation.
He was not out of work for long. From 2010-2015, Murphy was a part of the San Diego Padres organization. He started out as a special assistant, but also managed several of their minor league teams during his tenure. When Bud Black was fired midseason in 2015, Murphy was named interim manager.
The Padres went 42-54 under Murphy and the team decided he would not return the following year. That is when the Brewers made the decision to hire him as Counsell’s bench coach, a role he held until his promotion.
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