Brewers manager Pat Murphy's former
college players say his MLB success hasn't surprised them
[October 21, 2026]
By STEVE MEGARGEE
MILWAUKEE (AP) — As they watch manager Pat Murphy lead the Milwaukee
Brewers to their first World Series since 1982, the guys who played
for him at Notre Dame and Arizona State can’t help but feel
nostalgic.
Murphy celebrated Milwaukee’s NL Championship Series sweep by saying
the Los Angeles Dodgers had Hall of Famers but his team had gamers.
The theme wasn’t much different from pep talks he gave his college
teams.
“It’s kind of déjà vu,” said Cory Mee, who played for Murphy at
Notre Dame from 1989-92. “I’ve heard this before.”
Murphy won exactly 1,000 games during a college coaching career that
included stops at Maryville (Tennessee) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
(California) before longer stints at Notre Dame (1988-94) and
Arizona State (1995-2009). He now is on baseball’s biggest stage as
the Brewers face the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series starting
Friday.
He may have tempered his approach since making a cold call to
then-Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan and talking his way
into the Fighting Irish coaching job at the age of 28.
But his knack for getting players to believe remains as strong as
ever.
“Watching him with these Brewers, it struck me that he’s got a
formula,” said Mike Moshier, who played for Notre Dame from 1986-89.
“His algorithm is the same now as it was 40 years ago.”
That formula includes playing strong fundamentals, creating belief,
outworking opponents, keeping everything fun and preparing for any
obstacle.
“He does a really good job of explaining the expectation of how
we’re going to respond, what toughness and discipline look like, to
be able to respond to tough moments,” said Brett Wallace, who played
for Murphy at Arizona State and again in the minor leagues and with
the San Diego Padres.
The legend of the mud chart
There’s perhaps no greater example than the “mud chart” Murphy
designed to help Notre Dame’s 1989 team earn an elusive NCAA
Tournament berth.
Notre Dame was in a double-elimination Midwestern Collegiate
Conference tournament seeking the league’s automatic NCAA bid. The
Irish fell 16-15 to Detroit and dropped into the losers’ bracket, so
their season would end unless they won five straight games.
Constant rain delays meant the last four of those games would take
place in a span of 22 hours. One began at 1:30 a.m. and ended after
4 a.m.
Murphy designed a chart including a square for each of the 45
innings separating Notre Dame from its goal. Murphy figured the
Irish needed to win or tie just about every inning. Whenever Notre
Dame did that, he’d put a mud smudge in the corresponding square.
“It was posted in the dugout,” Mee said. “Every inning, he just
stuck his hand in the dirt, put some water on it and put a
thumbprint on it.”
Notre Dame won those five games to earn its first NCAA bid since
1970. Murphy went 318-116-1 at Notre Dame, which had been .500 or
below each of the five years before his arrival.
“People would ask me after I was done playing baseball, who was the
best manager I’d ever played for, expecting someone in the big
leagues,” said Dan Peltier, a Notre Dame outfielder from 1987-89 who
played three seasons in the majors. “I’d say right away it was Pat
Murphy. I knew his style of managing would translate well into the
big leagues as long as he had the right group of guys.”
Demanding his players' best efforts
Murphy is now a two-time NL manager of the year with a reputation
for getting the best out of his players. This season, he has removed
both three-time All-Star William Contreras and rookie Cooper Pratt
from games because he didn’t believe they sufficiently hustled.
He took that to another level during his college years.
Former Notre Dame outfielder Mike Rotkis recalled a 28-10 loss at
Western Michigan in Murphy’s debut season. When the Irish returned
to campus, Murphy had them do sprints.
“It was like the scene in ‘Miracle,’“ Rotkis said, referring to the
Kurt Russell movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team. “I
can’t go anymore, you’re trying to run as fast as you can and you’re
barely walking, you can barely lift your leg. He’s like, ‘All right,
that was an embarrassment. Don’t let it happen again,’ and walked
out.”
Murphy made practices so intense that games didn’t seem as tough.
“He didn’t accept anything but the best from you,” former Notre Dame
pitcher Chris Michalak said. “It wasn’t easy, but games were easy
after practice. The games became fun.”
Earlier this postseason, Murphy noted a motivational ploy he
attempted involving Craig Counsell, who played for Notre Dame from
1989-92 and later became Murphy’s boss as manager in Milwaukee.
[to top of second column] |
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, left, pulls Milwaukee Brewers
pitcher Shane Drohan (55) from the game during the second inning of
Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the
Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15,
2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Murphy believed Counsell was too shy and needed to
emerge as a leader, so he told the infielder to shout “Mine!” while
taking ground balls during workouts.
“There would be this shortstop out there yelling ‘Mine!’ for every
ground ball, and people would be like, ‘What the hell was that?'"
Murphy said. “But I was trying to bring it out of him, and he wanted
to kill me.
“That was a mistake. He did just fine without yelling ‘Mine!' for
ground balls.”
Murphy also pulled occasional pranks. Moshier remembers when the
team stopped at a fast-food restaurant on a road trip and Murphy
yelled for everyone to get back to the bus.
“The minute everyone got out of the restaurant, he sneaked in to get
his order first,” Moshier said. “That’s classic Murph."
Murphy eventually left for Arizona State and went 629-284-1 with
four College World Series appearances, including a runner-up finish
in 1998.
His Arizona State tenure ended bitterly when he resigned amid an
NCAA investigation. He entered the pro ranks and managed in San
Diego’s farm system before going 42-54 as the Padres’ interim
manager in 2015 following Bud Black’s dismissal.
When the Padres opted against keeping him beyond that season, Murphy
became a bench coach for Counsell, Milwaukee’s manager at the time.
Murphy got promoted when Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs after
the 2023 season.
After working alongside Murphy for so long and now competing with
him, Counsell understands why his college coach's approach has
worked so well in the big leagues.
“It’s authentic," Counsell said last month before a Cubs-Brewers
game. "That’s the No. 1 thing. It’s just who he is. That’s his
authentic style. That’s how he’s coached. You’ve got to be yourself,
and that’s what he’s doing.”
Carrying college lessons to their work lives
Many of Murphy’s former college players keep in touch with him. They
notice how he has matured. Murphy turns 68 next month, and he
survived a heart attack in 2020.
His style remains similar, but he’s smoothed his edges.
“He was terrifying (at Notre Dame) because he was unpredictable,”
Moshier said. “You’d either get the funny, comic, sarcastic Murph,
which was great. Or you’d get this really serious, really demanding,
critical Murph. And you never knew which you were going to get, so
he always kept you a little bit on edge.
“But I’ve seen him change over the years. Just interacting with him
the last 10 years, I think his ego has been sort of softened a bit.
He’s a bit more grateful for the opportunities that he’s had.”
Wallace has a unique perspective after playing for him in college,
in Triple-A and again with the Padres.
“The way you lead a group of 16- to 21-year-olds is different from
the way you lead a group of minor leaguers and a group of big
leaguers,” Wallace said. “He learned along the way how to be
authentic, how to be himself and how to communicate with a group of
people. The biggest thing about Murphy is he’s genuine and really
authentically himself.”
Wallace now works with college players as California’s hitting
coach. Mee is an assistant coach at Mount St. Mary’s and Michalak is
a longtime coach in the minors. All carry Murphy’s lessons into
their own coaching.
Moshier has established a leadership development company and says
his years with Murphy help him in the workplace as far as valuing
candor and knowing when to have tough conversations.
They’re watching their former coach with pride.
“He’s the most complex, interesting, talented guy I know — super
complex guy,” Moshier said. “But you’d want to go to war with him.”
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