- May 7, 2024
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Down a goal at halftime in the State Soccer Final Four, Seabreeze head coach Nathan Murphy didn’t say a word to his boys at the break. Instead, he allowed assistant coaches Rob Bowling and Jon Kinsler to fire up the team up, which they did.
A few weeks ago, Murphy was awarded Coach of the Year by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association. When I asked for his thoughts on receiving the award in his first year as head coach, he immediately began to tell me about his relationship with his assistants.
“On this team we don't have a head coach,” he said.
Now, before I share the rest of his thoughts, this was when I thought, “Here comes the political give-everyone-credit-while-I know-they-don’t-deserve-it mumbo-jumbo that we often hear from coaches. But, Murphy actually convinced me that he strongly believed in his guys.
He went on to say, “We all have ideas, we discuss them all day via text, and, if one of us doesn't agree, there is never a feeling of "keep it to yourself," because we can truly say what we think.”
OK. That made sense. But, even after that, he also described how he played goalkeeper his entire career, while Bowling and Kinsler played field positions. Because of that, they saw the field in ways he had never seen it. He proved to me that they deserved a ton of credit.
Murphy brought in Kinsler from Father Lopez at the beginning of the year. Bowling has been with the program for eight years. What was even more impressive than Murphy giving the other two credit, Bowling placed Kinsler above himself and explained his reasoning.
“My job for the team is to organize, facilitate and encourage the boys,” he said. “Jon had the vision for the team, and he made them tactically aware
I guess it’s apparent why they were so successful — no coach or player was bigger than the team.
And to make the Coach of the Year Award a total team effort, Murphy said about this about the players, which was echoed from the other coaches.
“As far as our family (the players),” he said, “if it wasn't for their hard work and willingness to believe in the system that we created, we wouldn't be having this conversation (COY).”
Team work really made the dream work — and included a few awards.
