Sean Murphy is beginning his second season as assistant baseball coach in 2021.
Murphy joins the Tiger coaching staff after assisting the Hays High baseball team and the Hays Larks each of the last two years.
Murphy played three seasons in the minor league system of the Colorado Rockies after being drafted in the 1995 MLB draft. He pitched 148.1 innings as a professional, striking out 134 batters, allowing just 109 hits and surrendering a 2.78 ERA.
A Hays native, Murphy was an All-State performer at Hays High School before playing two seasons at Johnson County Community College and two seasons at the University of North Carolina. He was a two-time All-East Jayhawk Conference selection at JCCC, earning first team All-Region VI honors as a sophomore. He struck out 1.23 batters per inning during his sophomore season, the sixth-best mark in NJCAA that season. He was a two-time scholar athlete with the Cavaliers.
His success on the mound continued as he transitioned to Chapel Hill, N.C., recording two of the top eight strikeout seasons in UNC program history. He earned the S.H. Basnight Award as the UNC Pitcher of the Year as a senior after breaking the single-season strikeout record with 125 punchouts. Murphy became the first pitcher in Tar Heel history to win eight ACC conference games in a single season. His 125 strikeouts as a senior currently ranks second on the all-time list at UNC, while his junior year total of 113 is eighth-most for a Tar Heel pitcher.
Murphy won 34 games over his collegiate career, striking out 358 batters over 321 innings of work. He led his pitching staff in innings pitched, strikeouts, complete games and wins as a sophomore, junior and senior.
He spent 20 years working in the private sector in Kansas City after his baseball career, primarily in Sales Operations and Business Development.
Murphy obtained a bachelor of arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of North Carolina before completing an MBA with an emphasis in Finance at the University of Kansas.
He resides in Hays with his father, former FHSU administrator Jim Murphy, and his red Doberman Pinscher, Eoghan.
