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Sports

It's Murphy's Law for Sachem East Lacrosse

Coach has spent nearly 30 years on the sidelines at three Sachem schools.

Going by the title next to his name, Rob Murphy is the head Sachem East lacrosse coach. Going by the 27 years he's spent teaching, and coaching the sport in the district, Murphy is a link to every level of lacrosse, every stage of the program's development, and every bit a reason for its success over the years. 

For one, Murphy played lacrosse as a Sachem High School student. And though he started the season with the 1979 New York State championship team, an injury kept him out for the second half of his senior season. Nevertheless, Murphy took the chops he learned in the midfield at North and applied them to the SUNY Oswego's men's team.

In 1983 Murphy graduated from Oswego, returning home to look for a teaching position.

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"People said put out your application and start subbing," Murphy recalled. "I started subbing [in Sachem] and a leave-replacement job opened up and I got the job. The lady who I replaced never came back. In those days when you got hired you had to do something else so I jumped right into coaching."

Through the 1980's, Murphy was a three-sport coach, guiding Sagamore athletes in football, wrestling and lacrosse. In 1988 he completed his Master's from Stony Brook University, and soon graduated on the coaching field as well. In 1991 Murphy took over as Sachem's JV lacrosse coach.

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No longer coaching junior high wrestling, Murphy continued to coach football at Sagamore (a position he would later be joined at by his brother Joe Murphy, a longtime varsity offensive assistant to Fred Fusaro). On the practice field everyday his JV lacrosse squad worked alongside the varsity.

Still teaching at Sagamore, Murphy had an eye on upcoming players in the junior high, the JV players on his team, as well as the varsity players taking the field at Sachem North under former lacrosse head coach Rick Mercurio.

"When I was a JV coach, and Rick was head coach, we worked in Sagamore together; there was always lines of communication," Murphy said. "The JV is almost like a farm team, if the varsity needs a kid, he moves up." 

Come playoffs, not only do JV players move up, but the coaching staff does as well. Considering as much, Murphy made the playoff trips during Sachem's dynasty days of the mid-90's. Days that included a New York State title in 1993 and a state semifinals appearance two years later.

"Junior high to JV and JV to varsity, the biggest difference – no matter what sport – is the speed of the ball and the speed of how everything happens," Murphy said.

At the outset of the 2003 season, things began speeding up for Murphy on the sidelines. Murphy took over as a varsity assistant that year, working predominantly with the defensive unit. Then, with Sachem splitting into North and East for the 2004-05 school year, Murphy was faced with a decision: stay at North and become the head coach, or remain a varsity assistant and move onto East with Mercurio.

"I could have taken the North head coaching job," Murphy began, "but I felt with all my years coaching at Sagamore I had more of a connection to the East side."

The move kept Murphy an assistant coach, but not for long. Following the 2007 season, after three years at Sachem East, Mercurio retired. With just about a quarter-century experience under his belt, Murphy added a new title to his resume: Sachem East head varsity lacrosse coach.

"With any head coaching job there is a whole lot of responsibility," Murphy said. "I look at it from a program point; you are with the junior high; you are the liaison with the community groups; you are doing a lot of stuff. When you're an assistant you don't do that."

Also on the list of responsibilities is creating and maintaining a competitive team. Like many of the athletic programs after the split, Murphy said the East lacrosse squad lacked depth in the beginning. Now after three seasons at the helm, Murphy guided what he considered a young team to the playoffs, finishing the season 9-8 overall (8-6 Division I; 10th place).

"We had a couple seniors back, we didn't have a lot of [sophomores], but we had a lot of ninth graders," Murphy said of the 2010 squad. "We were seeded 13th in Division going into the season and weren't suppose to make the playoffs but the kids came together."

With the end of the season, and school year that soon followed, Murphy celebrated his 27th year in the district. Quickly approaching three decades that has spanned three schools, and three levels of lacrosse, Murphy has no notion of stopping, especially when he can add another three to the list: a third Sachem state title.

"I like teaching and I like coaching," said Murphy whose current agenda in the classroom is eleventh grade U.S. History and twelfth grade economics. "I just like going to work everyday."

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