Fredericksburg to Phoenix: Assistant Coach Tommy Murphy leaves his mark at Mary Wash

by THOMAS JACKSON

Sports Editor

Earlier this January, after two successful seasons, UMW baseball Assistant Coach Tommy Murphy will be moving on to the Arizona Diamondbacks as one of the newest additions to their organization’s coaching staff. 

Murphy came to Mary Washington in the summer of 2022 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for UMW baseball. In his first season with the team, the Eagles made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 18 years. 

“I’m so grateful for [the team] because I wouldn’t be the coach I am today without the knowledge that I gained from being able to coach them,” he said.

Murphy says UMW provided him with the opportunity to learn more about being a better coach and fostering relationships here.

“Over that time, it was really just learning about relationship building all that stuff and learning how to communicate with the guys, but also learning from them about what I could do to be a better coach,” he said.

Part of that relationship building included participating in daily traditions with junior marketing major Nate Dulevitz who plays catcher and second base.

“My favorite memory about Coach Murphy is when he would join the middle infielders for the ‘question of the day,’” said Dulevitz. “During our prep work, I decided to start asking my teammates three different questions each day to grow our relationship. Coach Murphy found out about the daily questions and would join us every practice.”

Murphy says one of the biggest impacts UMW had on him was being able to develop his coaching philosophies and traits by working closely with the other athletic minds on campus.

“With the people that I worked with in the office, being able to just pick different coaches that coach different sports brains, about how they go about practice planning, how they go about developing players, how they go about building relationships like as coaches, we’re always trying to learn, learn and become better,” he said.

Even though Murphy may be leaving Fredericksburg, he hopes to continue building relationships made here with players and coaches.

“That’s the impact that’s going to be made, is those friendships that I’ve created with other coaches here, but then also with my former players,” he said. “I’m fortunate that I’m still very close with a lot of them that I’ve coached over the past years, and hopefully will continue to be super close with.”

Dulevitz believes that Murphy’s coaching went beyond the baseball diamond, pushing each player to be better versions of themselves on and off the field.

“He has pushed me to work hard in all aspects of baseball,” Dulevitz said. “He holds me accountable for my work towards baseball. He pushed me to give it 100% all of the time whether it was on the field, in the gym or in the classroom.”

Of his best memories at UMW, Murphy says the bigger moments, moments such as making the NCAA Tournament or beating a team on a historic winning streak, are some of his fondest.

“Making the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years,” he said. “My first year that I was there, [it] could be beating Eastern Connecticut State and ending their longest winning streak in NCAA, at that time.”

He also looks back on the team dinners and late-night practices as some of his favorite memories. 

“It’s the team dinners at Chick-fil-A, Chipotle,” he said. “And seeing the guys grind and continue to get better. It’s the early work that we did, that we did in the fall with our early hitting groups. It’s guys wanting to stay late and hit until it’s dark outside, and being like, ‘Coach, can you throw?’ I’m like, ‘absolutely, let’s do this thing.’”

Burke Steifman, senior business major and infielder for the baseball team shares this favorite memory with Murphy, stating that he would get to practice an hour early just to work with the team beforehand.

“Last year I would come out early before practices and stuff and want to take on balls, and want to work outside of regular team practice and he was always open, he would be there an hour early just to do stuff with me because he cared about us and if we wanted to do extra stuff he was always willing to do that and help us out,” said Steifman

Steifman believes that Murphy’s presence and attitude were enough to have a positive impact on the team.

“He’s really great, he’s super organized,” Steifman said. “He brought a lot of good hitting philosophies to the team. I feel like he was a very positive presence and just helped us out a lot these last few years.”

Murphy credits Head Coach Kelly Swiney with facilitating the close-knit community that allows the team to play for each other and themselves.

“The family aspect that has been instilled from before I was here when Coach Swiney started this whole thing, and that the desire for them to play for each other, play for their brothers on the field,” Murphy said.

Steifman also stated that Murphy has helped the team with the mental aspect of the game, as well as the physical.

“I would probably say his positivity, I think he was kind of a calming presence for us, the season gets very stressful, it’s pretty long and he does a good job of helping guys out with their swings and stuff, but also mentally,” he said. “He’s a good coach and a good mentor.”

The mentality that Murphy brought to Mary Washington was able to be adopted by the entire team, going further to understand not just the baseball player, but the person as well.

“Personally, Coach Murphy has been a lot of fun to work with. He understands each player’s strengths and weaknesses and is able to work one-on-one with us to make us better. In his three years here, he has worked with all of the hitters and developed a mentality the team all embraces.”

Murphy emphasized all the relationships that he was able to make here and all the wonderful people he has met.

“Missing Mary Washington, it’s absolutely those friendships,” he said. “Those relationships that I created with guys I’ve been coaching for the past two and a half years, to the guys that I recruited and may have only been able to coach for a fall. Definitely will miss Coach Swiney, being able to work beside him and learn so much from him. He’s a lifelong friend. . . . He’s helped me become the best version of myself.”

Abbey Magnet contributed to reporting for this article.