In a stunning move Friday morning, Stratford ISD announced that head football coach Jonathan Murphy is leaving to take over as the Canyon Eagles offensive coordinator.
Murphy has spent the past 11 years coaching at Stratford. The first eight years were as the offensive line coach, and then took over head coaching duties when Matt Lovorn accepted the same position in Canyon. It wasn’t an easy decision for Murphy, but he’s excited to be back on a coaching staff with his good friend, Lovorn.
“Coach Lovorn and I go way back,” Murphy said. “We had a lot of great memories together in Stratford. When Matt offered me this new opportunity, it was difficult, because myself and my family love Stratford. At this stage in my life, I also want to spend a little more time with my family and joining Matt and stepping back into a coordinator role gives me this opportunity.”
Lovorn says he is thrilled to have a great coach in Murphy joining the Eagles staff, but more importantly a better person for the players to learn from.
“Coach (Jonathan) Murphy is amazing at building relationships with kids,” Lovorn said. He’s very humble and he’s never had an ego. He’s very experienced and done a lot in his career. Jon is a great coach, but more importantly, he’s a tremendous human being. We need guys like that on our staff. He will raise the level of our program and he brings very strong leadership qualities.”
In three years under Murphy, the Elks didn’t miss a beat. Murphy led Stratford to a combined 32-8 mark including a run to the UIL Class 2A Division II state quarterfinals this past fall. What made it even harder to leave, is Stratford returns all but three players for next year.
“I keep saying this, but this was a very difficult decision,” said Murphy, who has spent 19 years in coaching “This decision didn’t happen overnight. Stratford made me a great coach and the people here are wonderful. The time coaching here in Stratford made me so much better. We’ve always had an incredible staff, and a great administration. Stratford does everything the right way and has amazing kids. I will miss everyone here and I hope to see how successful they will be.”
Stratford has named former, legendary, head coach Eddie Metcalf in charge of helping finding who will be the next head football coach.