“Right time. Right place. Right me.”
Those are the feelings that drove longtime assistant Kyle Murphy to pursue the position of head coach for the Pacifica football team.
And on Tuesday, the Empire League school announced that Murphy, a veteran offensive line coach and former standout at Edison, had been hired as the Mariners’ coach, replacing interim coach Randy Franzman.
Murphy, 47, will be a head coach for the first time. He has been a teacher at Pacifica for 12 years.
“It’s been a journey for me,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be a head coach.”
Murphy was last part of a high school football coaching staff in 2016 at Fountain Valley, as an assistant under Jimmy Nolan.
He was an assistant at Pacifica under Marcello Giuliano from 2011-14. He also served as an assistant at Edison and Cal Lutheran University.
Murphy’s specialty is coaching the offensive line. He earned all-state honors at Edison and later played at Arizona State, helping the Sun Devils reach the Rose Bowl in 1997 against Ohio State.
Murphy has trained offensive linemen the last several years with his company “5AS1.”
Murphy said he aims to mentor the players to be hard-working student-athletes with high character and leadership skills.
“I want the community to feel proud of the program,” he said. “Ultimately, I’m excited to build a program.”
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Murphy said Tom Blazer, his partner with 5AS1, will join him at Pacifica as an offensive line coach.
The Mariners finished 3-7 last season. Franzman served as the interim coach after Vinnie Lopez resigned shortly before the start of the season.
In seven seasons as the team’s head coach, Lopez compiled a 44-28 record and the Mariners shared two Empire League titles and made five playoff appearances.