There were a couple rumors connecting Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy to the Stanford athletic director’s job yesterday.
Murphy, who has been with the Packers since late 2007, either sought out the job or was on the university’s radar prior to joining the Packers. The job, currently held by Bob Bowlsby, will be open again this June, when Bowlsby leaves to become commissioner of the Big 12.
Naturally, someone threw out Murphy’s name as a potential candidate. He served as athletic director at Colgate and Northwestern before joining the Packers organization. Couple that with the previous interest and the move could make sense. After all, what does Murphy have left to accomplish in Green Bay?
Well, the Packers were quick shoot all that down as invalid speculation.
“That’s simply speculation,” a Packers spokesman said on behalf of Murphy, who was traveling to NFL meetings in Atlanta. “There’s no basis to it.”
Good move. You guys don’t want that stock price to drop!
Let’s be real, though. We all know how these things work. The candidate, whether he’s interested or not, says nothing is going on until the day he announces he’s leaving.
Not too long ago, I watched then Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin sit on TV and say he wasn’t leaving for South Carolina during an NCAA tournament broadcast. The next day he left for South Carolina.
Fortunately, if Murphy leaves, we’re pretty sure the Packers will be fine. Did anyone really think Murphy would do a better job than his predecessor, Bob Harlan? Probably not, but you can certainly make the argument that he did.
The Packers won’t have to struggle to find a top-notch talent to run the show if or when Murphy leaves.
Seems like Murphy has done a good job by just staying the F away from the football stuff. Might be smart, might be an awesome dude, but he sure looks like a goofball.
You’re right, it wouldn’t be a big issue to find a top notch Pres.
Not surprisingly, the Packers here are simply showing class by calling it speculation instead of what it is.
If a truth-translator could have been used to filter the “spokesman” (is that an official title at 1265?), this is what he would say-
“Stanford would like to have Mark Murphy. However, Mark Murphy is about as likely to leave Green Bay for Stanford as Jessica Biel is to leave Justin Timberlake for me.”
This seems like a huge downgrade. Why would you go from running one of the premiere sports organizations in the world to running a college program? Stanford is obviously extremely respectable, but we’re talking about THE Green Bay Packers, greatest franchise in the most popular sport in America.
Plus, my understanding is he’s fairly well respected among the various league power players. Had a big role in getting the lockout ended, etc. You’re top dog man, don’t throw it away.