BY JOHN PAINTER
GoColgateRaiders.com

First in a series of "Where are they now?" features on members of the Colgate athletics family.

HAMILTON – Mark Murphy remembers being asked nearly five years ago if he could adjust to living in a small town like Green Bay, Wis.

Murphy, considered one of Colgate University's favorite sons, smiled and replied, “If you think Green Bay's small, you've never been to Hamilton.”

And just like that, an innocent question by a member of the Green Bay Packers search committee led to Murphy accepting the team's position as President and Chief Executive Officer. He would be leading one of the NFL's most storied professional football franchises.

Once again, Murphy's quaint college campus had made a huge impact on his life.

Shaping Philosophies
Colgate's influence on Murphy began when the native of Clarence, N.Y., near Buffalo, first arrived for classes in the fall of 1973. From Day 1, he called it “the most beautiful campus you will ever see.”

Murphy played four years of football and baseball for the Raiders before graduating and going on to an eight-year NFL career with the Washington Redskins. Murphy says head coaches at both stops made outstanding impressions on his life.

“My experiences as a student-athlete really shaped me in terms of my business career,” he said. “Especially some of the lessons I learned from coaches, and particularly Fred Dunlap at Colgate. Then in my pro career, it was Joe Gibbs who was very instrumental in shaping my philosophies or practices as an executive.”

While playing and just after completing his playing career in the nation's capital, Murphy earned first his MBA in finance from American University and then his law degree from Georgetown University. Those achievements led to positions as assistant executive director of the NFL Players Association and trial lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Murphy's second Colgate stint took place from 1992 to 2003 as the university's Director of Athletics. Murphy had met his wife, Laurie, while both were Colgate undergrads, and the couple raised their four children during this repeat turn through Hamilton.

“Colgate's been such a big part of my life – as a student, getting married there and spending so much time as athletics director,” Murphy said. “So our family has very fond memories of the school.”

Graduation Speaker
This past spring, the alma mater returned a small portion of that affection when Murphy was asked to present the commencement speech for graduation ceremonies.

“It was a great honor, really very special,” Murphy said. “Never in my wildest dreams 35 years ago did I ever think I would be giving the commencement speech.”

Perhaps one day, another more recent Colgate alumnus who is pursuing the same path as Murphy will speak those same words.

Nate Eachus completed a stellar four-year football career for the Raiders last year and then, like Murphy, graduated and signed with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. Just like Murphy, Eachus made it through the cuts and this season he's suiting up for the Kansas City Chiefs.

“It brought back a lot of memories having gone through the same thing a long time ago, in 1977,” said Murphy, who watched Eachus play in person in one of the final preseason games last month in Green Bay. “But I was really proud of him. He played great and definitely deserved to make the team. He played his way onto it.”

The Colgate Way
Did the Colgate athletics mentality of battling through adversity and winning against the odds play a role in Eachus' success?

“Oh, absolutely,” Murphy said. “It was pretty impressive just watching him on the field that day, and he was impressive all training camp. He didn't go in with a lot of fanfare, but he certainly got everybody's attention. It looked like the players also responded well to him.

“But it completely changes now going from the training camp into the regular season. It will be an adjustment for him, but hopefully he will be able to play on one of the special teams.”

Murphy, 57, left Colgate in 2002, taking first the athletics director's post at Northwestern University and then moving to his current position with the Packers. Nearly Murphy's entire career has been in either collegiate or professional athletics, and he is attuned to the differences between them.

“For me, as athletics director you had very broad responsibilities,” he said. “You had all three seasons and, especially at Colgate, it's a very broad athletics program, with many more athletes and teams than your normal Division I program.

“In the NFL, it's all focused just on the one team. In a lot of ways, the NFL is much more pure than big-time college athletics. People know the rules and, by and large, follow them. And the best team wins. In the NCAA, it's really hard to control boosters and agents. There are a lot of challenges at the NCAA level that people are working through, but it's really difficult.”

Great Pride
Yet Murphy credits his campus experiences as the perfect cultivation for his role with the Packers.

“Having worked in a collegiate environment with two boards of trustees, at Colgate and Northwestern, really was good training for my current position with the Packers because it's very similar.”

Just like the village of Hamilton was similar to Green Bay.

Murphy still hears from Colgate alums and enjoys keeping up with old friends made during his student days. And he still relishes explaining the Colgate experience to those who haven't lived it.

“A lot of people think it's in the middle of nowhere; it's under snow all the time,” he said. “But something I take great pride in is if it's not the smallest Division I athletics program, it's one of the smallest. But it still has tremendous academic standards and one of the highest graduate rates in the country.”

For Murphy, it was the perfect small-town fit.