Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy in mix for Mets' managerial job, reports say
Milwaukee Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy during an MLB game against the San Francisco Giants Saturday, June 15, 2019 in San Francisco, Calif. Credit: AP/Bill Nichols
Add yet another name to the list of Mets managerial candidates: Brewers bench coach and longtime Division I college coach Pat Murphy, who according to reports Sunday has interviewed multiple times for the job.
Murphy’s candidacy — unknown to the public until The Athletic reported it — is a prime example of the hush-hush approach the Mets have worked to maintain with their search for a manager. General manager Brodie Van Wagenen hasn’t commented publicly since Oct. 3, the day the team fired Mickey Callaway, and the club has strongly preferred that the front-office inner circle not leak details of the process.
Among those who reportedly received second in-person interviews: ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez, Nationals infield/first-base coach Tim Bogar, Yankees special adviser Carlos Beltran, Mets quality-control coach Luis Rojas and Twins bench coach Derek Shelton.
Murphy, 60, is the oldest of the Mets’ known candidates and has a resume unlike the others, having spent much of his career in the college ranks. He was the head coach at Notre Dame (1988-94) and Arizona State (1995-2009), from which he resigned amid an NCAA investigation (at the end of which he was cleared of unethical conduct).
From there, Murphy joined the Padres as a special assistant, then a minor-league manager and interim major-league manager (for 96 games in 2015). He overlapped in San Diego with Mets special assistant to the GM Omar Minaya, who was a Padres higher-up.
Murphy has spent the past four seasons as Milwaukee’s bench coach, serving under manager Craig Counsell, one of Murphy’s former Notre Dame standouts. The Brewers have been to the playoffs the past two seasons — coming within a win of a World Series appearance in 2018 — and have emerged as one of the premier forward-thinking, analytics-applying organizations in baseball.
Monday marks 26 days since the official start of the Mets’ managerial search. Of the original eight major-league teams with openings for that job, four are still looking: the Mets, Giants, Pirates and Royals.
A resolution could come as soon as Monday, an off day for the World Series.
