Very strange: ASU baseball coach quits

Pat Murphy took the Sun Devils to something like four College World Series and had a young team that dominated the Pac-10 coming back next year, and today he just up and quits with no explanation. I think there's something beyond baseball here...

Loved the line about his cell phone being broken.

BC-BBC--Arizona St-Murphy Resigns, 1st Ld-Writethru,0292
Arizona State baseball coach Murphy resigns
Eds: ADDS background, details.
TEMPE, Ariz. — Pat Murphy has resigned after 15 seasons as baseball coach at Arizona State.
No reason was given for the surprise move, which was announced by the university in a brief news release on Friday.
The colorful and often outspoken Murphy led the Sun Devils to the College World Series four times — 1998, 2005, 2007 and 2009. The program has produced several major league players, including Andre Ethier of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox, who appeared along with Muhammad Ali at a recent Murphy fundraiser.
He took over the historically successful Sun Devil program in August 1994 after seven seasons at Notre Dame. Under Murphy, Arizona State compiled a 629-284-1 record.
“Coach Murphy has an outstanding record of success on the playing field,” athletic director Lisa Love said in a prepared statement. “I thank him for 16 years of hard work and service to the university and the sport.”
The Sun Devils had won the last three Pac-10 titles, with Murphy named conference coach of the year each time. Murphy, 50, had offered no hint publicly of his impending resignation in recent interviews.
The move creates a vacancy in one of the most attractive jobs in college baseball. The university said an interim coach would be named, and a national search for a permanent replacement would begin immediately.
Murphy was just the third coach in Arizona State’s modern baseball history, following Jim Brock and Bobby Winkles.
Murphy could not be reached for comment. The university said his cell phone was broken.
His overall record at Maryville, Tenn., Claremonte-Mudd Scripps, Notre Dame and Arizona State is 1,000-457-4. Murphy’s final Arizona State team finished 51-14.

 

He was the same guy that Deadspin libeled.

 

Libeled?

Deadspin fucked up, but I'm not sure it meets the libel qualifications.

 

Isn't Lisa Love the same AD who fired Dirk Koetter via phone? This is surprising and weird.

 

The program's been under investigation by the school for various violations for a while now. Don't know the details, but I suspect he either got tired of it and walked, or (far more likely) was pushed out the door.

 

Here's a side story that caught my eye: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2009/10/09/20091009murphy1007-CP.html

And a little bit more, courtesy of the AZCentral.com

 

Shouldn't the wire story have mentioned these allegations and investigations rather than implying the departure was an absolute shock with no conceivable cause? Just asking.