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Jim Murphy: A Nebraskan, a Walk-On, a Soldier
Randy York N-Sider
Official Blog of the Huskers
Lt. Colonel Jim Murphy, a Nebraska football walk-on who’s serving a stint in the National Capitol Region in Arlington, Va., is Alabama Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin’s cousin. Jim’s dad, Jim Murphy Sr., was an NU football captain in 1956, and Lane’s dad, Monte, was a Husker lineman who became the defensive coordinator for Bob Devaney’s 1970 and 1971 national championship teams.
You can only imagine the conversations the Murphy and Kiffin families have whenever they get together. Today should be no exception, especially after Lane played such a key role in the Crimson Tide’s 45-40 win over Clemson Monday night in Glendale, Ariz., and all four Alabama team buses left Lane behind.
Jim Murphy Jr. had to blink his eyes and certify the final score in the wee hours of Tuesday’s Eastern Time Zone before heading towards the Pentagon. Murphy oversees recruiting and retention for the Nebraska Army National Guard, but he couldn’t resist a good laugh when he heard that cousin Lane missed the bus.
Murphy is one of a handful of people who know that Monday night wasn’t the first time Kiffin missed the bus. On a short night, Murphy remembered a certain Sunday in September, 2008, when Kiffin was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders and his family and friends drove from Lincoln to Kansas City to watch the bitter annual rivalry
Murphy, his wife Cherri and daughter Paige met Lane in Kansas City’s Crown Center area that Sunday morning to chat and pick up tickets and a parking pass. Chris Kiffin, Lane’s brother who was then serving as a Nebraska football intern, was also there with his fiancé, Angela Timmons, who was the director of operations for Nebraska women’s basketball. Austen Everson, then Nebraska’s assistant director of business operations for football, was also a passenger.
They Got Him to the Game and the Raiders’ Locker Room on Time
“I was waiting out front to head to Arrowhead Stadium when they all started climbing in,” Murphy recalled. “Lane opened the front door and said he’d missed the bus, so we had to move fast. It was crowded, and so was the traffic.” Weaving in the traffic flow got KIffin (No. 16) to the stadium on time. Since he’d missed the bus, however, he had no idea where the locker room was.
“We flagged down a guy in a golf cart in the parking lot,” Murphy recalled. “He wasn’t buying it until he saw Lane in his Raider gear with his briefcase. He was kind enough to take Lane to the locker room in the golf cart. We parked and stayed outside tailgating and laughing for two hours and whenever we talk about it, it’s just as funny now as it was almost eight years ago.”
The Raiders beat the Chiefs, 23-8, on Sept. 14th, 2008. Unfortunately, Lane was fired before an off-week in a 1-3 start to the season.
Every Passenger in Jim Murphy's SUV That Day Has Prospered
The good news is every passenger in Murphy’s SUV on that memorable Sunday has prospered since that unforgettable experience. Lane has been a force for Alabama, even though his brother Chris has been the defensive line coach for Ole Miss, which has beaten ‘Bama in back-to-back years. You can imagine the family teasing, like “Chris knows what Lane is going to call even before he decides,” Murphy said.
In the seven-year span between “missed the bus” and “calling the right plays”, Chris and Angela got married and now have three daughters and a son. They enjoy living in Oxford, Miss., and appreciate and value their experiences in Lincoln. Everson is now the Team Operations Coordinator for the Tennessee Titans.
Since this column looks back as much as it looks forward, you might enjoy reading this 2007 column about Murphy, the whistleblower on Lane’s “Miss the Bus” sequel. The column includes a segment that defines the longshot odds of Husker walk-ons and how Murphy and Mitch Krenk, his buddy and fellow walk-on, survived before Mitch went on to earn a Super Bowl Championship ring from the Chicago Bears.
It’s an amusing journey when seventh- and eighth-string walk-ons climb the same ladder to become Husker starters…but not as funny as an offensive coordinator missing the bus after his team just won a national championship.
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