ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy has resigned, ASU announced Friday.
An interim coach will take over the team until a coach is selected from a national search, which will begin immediately, the University said.
“Coach Murphy has an outstanding record of success on the playing field,” ASU Athletic Director Lisa Love said. “I thank him for 16 years of hard work and service to the University and the sport.”
Murphy, who took over as coach in 1994, led the Sun Devils to a Pac-10 Championship in each of the past three seasons.
ASU baseball players said they were “shocked” by the news of Murphy’s resignation outside the team’s facility on Friday afternoon.
“This is a shock to everyone in the program. We just found out about this today,” senior third baseman Raoul Torrez said. “It’s kind of hard to deal with it right now, but if we stick together, we’ll make it through.”
Said senior first baseman Kole Calhoun: “This is a sad day for ASU. ... Nobody thought this was going to happen when we came to lift this morning, but it did and now we can just move forward. No matter what happens with leadership or whatever else is going on, our goal is always to win a national championship, so that’s where we stand.”
Murphy, who finished with a record of 629-284-1 at ASU, was not immediately available for comment.
Love said she expects the baseball team to accomplish big things this season despite Murphy’s resignation.
“Those guys are terrific,” the athletic director said. “They know where their hearts are; they know what they want to do, and I have always been impressed with the three young men who are captains.
“There is no question that this has, sorry about the pun, thrown a curve into their way of thinking and what they’re prepared to do. Their focus will change. They will recover; they’re resilient and they are very determined and they are very talented.
“This is kind of a rally call to the public to get behind the team at this particular moment, because they are ready to go.”
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.
