THE COLLEGES : Glory Days Gone By : Murphy Has Struggled With Titans Since ‘84, but Insists He’d Rather Stay

“I keep thinking that I’m 45 and I’ve been coaching for 20 years and I’ve got maybe 10 productive years left. ... I guess what I’m saying is wouldn’t it be great to have the opportunity to go for the big time. When will I have another chance like this?”

--Gene Murphy, 1984

In 1984, after an 11-1 football season in which Cal State Fullerton was ranked briefly in the top 20 by United Press International, Gene Murphy was in demand, a coach on the climb.

He turned down an offer from Utah, and withdrew from consideration for the Oregon State job at a time when he was believed to be the top candidate.

He was holding out for the position at Missouri, a job he called “the big time.” He finished second to Woody Widenhofer, and he stayed at Fullerton.

In 1985, the Titans finished 6-5. They have not had a winning season since. If they win their final game today against Utah State, they will finish 5-6.

“Those glory days are further and further behind now,” Murphy said recently.

Murphy and some of the assistants who were with him then agree that there probably won’t be another season like 1984 at Fullerton. Not with the more difficult nonconference schedule Fullerton now plays, which this year included West Virginia (10-0) and Wyoming (10-1). Not with Proposition 48, the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. academic regulation under which Murphy says many members of the 1984 team would have lost a year of eligibility.

Without a good record, appealing offers are less likely to come. In 9 seasons at Fullerton, Murphy has a 49-54 record that includes 2 forfeit victories.

“An athletic director has a hard time justifying hiring somebody with a losing record,” Murphy said.

Even so, Murphy’s reputation as an able, intelligent and personable coach who has made the most of limited resources keeps his name out and about. He was interviewed for the Washington State job in 1986 after a 3-9 season. And this year his name already is on the grapevine, being loosely mentioned for jobs that are not yet open.

“When you’re a hot commodity, you stay lukewarm for a while,” Murphy said.

There was even talk among a few Titan players this season that the reason Murphy wanted so much to beat Fresno State (Oct. 8) was that it would help him get a good job offer.

Murphy quieted the rumor in a talk with the team, but he still shakes his head with exasperation at the thought.

“It was for the conference championship at the time,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to win.”

Murphy would have you believe he does not want to leave. There probably will be other offers, if not this year, another.

“That’s not saying I’d leave,” Murphy said. “I like it here. Really, I do.”

Still, he must contend with the much-mentioned frustrations of coaching at Fullerton, namely insufficient funding and facilities.

Some of that changes, some of it doesn’t.

Ground breaking for a long-sought campus stadium is scheduled for 1989, but Murphy, perhaps still skeptical of a 1991 opening, occasionally has joked that the stadium “will be good for the next guy.”

During the summer, the already tight football budget was cut by $50,000, meaning additional fund raising for Murphy and his staff.

This year has been a particularly trying one for Murphy.

He lost four assistant coaches, most of whom he helped to find better jobs. Last spring, two players were implicated but cleared in a fight in which a Marine suffered fatal injuries. This season, more than two dozen players expected to be with the team are not--some never reported, others quit, some were injured.

“It’s been a frustrating year,” Murphy said.

Some sources close to Murphy think he has tired of the frustrations and would welcome an opportunity to leave. Others, doubting that a 5-6 season would garner any appealing offers and noting that Murphy is busy planning for next year, think he has no such intentions.

Both groups share one thing: Murphy has not discussed the possibility with any of them.

Could the frustrations--some of the same ones that appeared to play a part in George McQuarn’s recent resignation as basketball coach--drive Murphy away?

“Could,” Murphy said. “I doubt it.”

Frustrations aside, there are aspects of coaching at Fullerton that keep him there.

There is the weather, Murphy says, so different from North Dakota, where he spent the first 17 years of his career.

There is “Titan family,” the philosophy that all that adversity is building character, and that you need please only yourself and your teammates.

Most important, there is being close to his two sons, Tim, a senior at Fullerton, and Michael, a freshman.

“That’s been the best part of this year, having them both around,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s options might be limited. He says “it would be tough” to leave Fullerton for a rebuilding job, and says he’s not interested in becoming an assistant coach.

So for now, Murphy is busy planning for next year, intent on trying to recruit more high school players, the players he believes help sustain the program. He is planning for next year, a season in which the schedule doesn’t include a top-20 team, a schedule that gives the Titans a chance to have a good record.

He tries not to look back.

“The thing about 1984 . . . there was a song, you only pass this way once or you won’t go this way again, . . . you know the song I mean,” Murphy said. “That may have been it. The decision I made, I made. I had the chance, and I decided to go for the big time. I didn’t get it. But I came out of the huddle and made my decision. I’m happy with it. To look back on it would be like looking back and saying we should have kicked off instead of squib-kicked in the Long Beach State game.”

Titan Notes

Cal State Fullerton plays Utah State at 1 p.m. today in Santa Ana Stadium for second place in the Big West Conference. Fresno State already has clinched the title. Utah State, winless in five road games, is led by quarterback Brent Snyder, who has passed for 2,936 yards, and split end Kendal Smith, who has 63 catches. Fullerton quarterback Dan Speltz is coming off his best performance of the year, a 325-yard passing day in a 58-13 victory over San Jose State. Tailback Mike Pringle is coming off a career-high 131-yard rushing, 100-yard receiving performance.