Murphy Fills Holes in Coaching Staff

When the Harvard football team takes the field next fall to defend its Ivy League title, it will do so with the aid of five new coaches. To fill the positions left by Tony Reno and three other former assistant coaches who followed him to Yale, Harvard head coach Tim Murphy first hired Ryan Crawford to lead the defensive backfield and Jeremy Bandy to coach the offensive line.

Murphy also promoted Michael Horan to coach the defensive line and hired Ron DiGravio to fill Horan’s former post of defensive line coaching assistant. Most recently, Murphy brought in Chris Batti to serve as the running backs’ coaching assistant.

Crawford, who served as defensive coordinator for the University of Rhode Island last year, was not on Murphy’s radar at the beginning of the search process but ended up proving to be a very strong candidate, Murphy said.

“We got a lot of recommendations about him, and when we met him, we were very, very impressed,” Murphy said. “With his resume, experience and his interview, he was by far the most impressive candidate for the position.”

Crawford’s background will also help him during recruiting season. The new special teams coordinator is from North Carolina and will be responsible for scouring the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida for potential talent.

“He’s familiar with that part of the country, so that was one more thing that made him a very solid candidate for the position,” Murphy said.

Murphy was already familiar with Bandy, who had previously served as offensive line coach at Holy Cross, the only team to best Harvard in 2011.

“Seeing his offensive line up-close on film many times led us to believe that he would be a great candidate,” Murphy said.

Murphy knew even more about Horan, who served his third year for the Crimson last season.

“Mike is a guy we’ve had a long time to get to know,” Murphy said. “By virtue of his experience and the outstanding job he’s done, that was an easy decision. We got a ton of resumes, a ton of phone calls, but at the end of the day, Mike was too good of an internal candidate to pass up.”

All three coaches will fill large roles on the staff, but they will have fewer responsibilities than the pair of new coaching assistants, who, in addition to game-planning, are responsible for video work, computer work, and other small jobs.

“You want someone who wants a great work ethic, certainly someone who is articulate and polished, but someone who is going to roll up the sleeve and work very hard,” Murphy said.

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.