AMID A LEAVE OF ABSENCE, PENN STATE FIRES TIM MURPHY AS HEAD SWIMMING & DIVING COACH.
Tim Murphy, the head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at Penn State University, will “not renew the contract,” the university said.
Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft commented, “We would like to thank Tim for his service to Penn State for the last 11 years and wish him all the best in the future.”
Murphy has been absent from the program for a “unspecified period of absence” since taking over in the 2013–2014 season. Dan Carrington is the temporary men’s head coach while Erin Matyus is the temporary women’s head coach in his place. SwimSwam has been informed by sources that the leave of absence started during the autumn semester, despite the school’s refusal to comment on the exact date.
At the Big Ten Championships in February, the Nittany Lion women finished ninth out of twelve teams, and the men ranked seventh out of eight teams. Three men, Cooper Morley (50 free and 100 back), Victor Baganha (100 fly), and Mariano Lazzerini (100 breast and 200 breast), along with three relays, qualified to represent Penn State at the NCAA Championships. The women’s team did not send any swimmers to the meet. Baganha withdrew from the NCAAs a few days prior to the competition due to an unspecified medical condition.
In the end, the men’s team scored eight points to place 34th in the NCAA Championships. They received two points for finishing in 16th place in the 400 medley relay, and three points each for Cooper Morley and Mariano Lazzerini for placing 14th in the 100 back and 100 breast, respectively.
In the 100 breaststroke, Lazzerini won the Big Ten Championship. It was Penn State’s first Big Ten swimming and diving championship since 2021 and their 15th overall.
In 2018, three female swimmers reported that Murphy had bullied them, leading the university’s athletics integrity officer to examine the program. Irish Olympian swimmer Shane Ryan was among the swimmers who expressed their support for Murphy.
Before joining Penn State, Murphy spent fifteen years as the men’s team head coach at Harvard, where he oversaw Olympic open water swimmer Alex Meyer. During the 2012 Olympic Games, he served as head coach of the US men’s open water squad.