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I would just like to say THANK YOU to Chris Murphy for all of his hard work in building the sport of soccer in Waverly! Chris won his 100th career match this season and also picked up his fourth SOC II Title! Though Chris had many detractors, he will be missed by the parents and players who understood that soccer is a TEAM sport!

Coach Murphy resigned as Head Soccer Coach at Waverly to spend time with his family! I wish you all the happiness in the world Chris!

I am sorry to hear that but I am glad that he will get some more time to spend with his family. Kids grow up too fast.

Congrats to Coach Murphy on a great run and hopefully, when he's ready, he'll be back in the Waverly program at some point.

Coach Murphy will certainly be missed at Waverly! Congrats on a fine season and hopefully we will all see you on the pitch again someday. I wander who will step in as coach? Is the assistant coach interested? Since Waverly has junior high soccer maybe that coach would be interested? At any rate whomever it is they have a fine bunch of players coming on to work with!!!!!

I have followed this program from the very first year in 96 with Coach Karnes, and i must say when Chris Murphy took over is when Waverly became a top tier soccer program in southeast ohio. You can say nothing to argue what Chris Murphy did coaching on the field, 100 wins 4 SOC championships and was always near the top in the area. Although i have heard many players were not happy with Chris Murphy's style I myself would love it if my son or daughter would get the chance to play for Chris in the future he demands your best and takes nothing less. If he is resigning to spend more time with his family I wish him all the best nothing can replace the years of your kids growing up, and the Murphy family not just Chris but Matt and both their wives as well as their mom and dad are very class people from all the chances i have spoke with them. As far as the future not sure who will put in for the job but i hope the person they choose is a teacher of the game and demands the best. Thank you Chris for everything you and your family have given to this community and program. My Choice would be do what it takes to make Matt Murphy the guy, he is well liked by all the players and has the respect of the parents. I am not sure what Matt's feelings on this would be but he would be a great Hire.

The Tiger Eyez are Upon You!!!!!!!!

should be interesting to see who applies. not much interest back in the spring. congrats to coach murphy for a good season and wish him well. waverly soccer is headed in the right direction.

If Coach Murphy spends as much time with his daughters as he did with the soccer team they might get tired of having ole Dad around. Where will Waverly find someone that will devote the time that Chris did? If there were any outside sources that contributed to this early retirement, I hate it, but understand. In some parents' minds the head coach is always the one who never gives the players enough playing time, even though the coach is responsible for winning the game. Before one gripes about a coach doing his job, how many of us would want to be critiqued at our job by people that really don't know much about it? Everybody is a coach and it looks so easy until you try it. Take a week and think it over Coach Murphy. There is a lot of us that want you back.

SOC II Coach of the Year...Congrats Coach Murphy!

Congratulations on the Minford soccer team. Minford coach should have been named Coach of the Year.

Because they play in a division lower? Minford may have reached the District Semi's in D2, but not any further.

Congrats to Chris on another great year and a very successfull career at the helm of Waverly soccer. Waverly went from being an after thought to a powerhouse in southern Ohio within his tenure. There are a few qualified brains that could take over this job and continue it's success. I wish the best of luck to all the candidates for the position and hopefully the school board can decide on a great coach in the near future.

how many seniors did waverly have this past year?

Great Post socman I agree

Waverly had seven seniors on varsity, six of them started most of the time. Waverly's reserve team was undefeated this season, with a lot of young talent coming to replace the graduating players. Might be the team to beat in 09.

Waverly has never been able to advance from the sectional. With the talent that has been on the field they should have advanced further. The talent was there. Maybe coaching?

Only 2 teams have advanced out of the regionals in the SE district, so it's not that big of a deal to not make it out of that.

I hope nobody who was thinking of applying for that job reads this. Its tough to deal with people who are unhappy with good results.

There is talent there, but if you have 1 great player, you have to have 7-8 solid supporting players to go along to beat teams that aren't weak at any position. When you have multiple weak spots, as a coach, it's tough to hide them and other good coaches will be able to expost those weaknesses.

Coach Murphy did a very good job, just never had a deep bench or a great starting 11. He had some very good players and did a lot of good things with those players.

I disagree on Waverly's team with multiple weak spots. It is difficult to watch a team with talent not being utilized by his coach. Maybe a coach is playing his players out of position, maybe not even starting his best players, and not focusing on the other teams weaknesses. When two teams have equal talent, it does come down to coaching and the motivation his players.

I hear Bill Hale might be interested in the position. He coached at SSU for several years and also out at South Webster.

Bill Hale, huh? I played against several teams that he coached.
They were always well prepared and played with high intensity.
Could be an interesting fit at Waverly.

Bill coached two years at Minford (83, 84), was an assistant coach at Ashland HS in 85 and maybe 86 then the head coach at Boyd Co from about 86 or 87-90 and then coached about five years at SSU. He then coached at South Webster in 1996, 97, 98 and 99. Rumor had him applying for the job at New Boston when it came open last. He won two SOC championships in his career--both at South Webster after the league split to two divisions.

His teams tended to be physical. I remember watching a game between South Webster and New Boston in 1996 in which there were seven red cards--4 for South Webster and 3 for New Boston. It was a pretty empty field by the end of the game.