The Unscripted Climb

This week on Unscripted with Ryan, I sit down with new Franklin Pierce cross country and track & field head coach Liam Murphy for a conversation about leadership, endurance, and the meaning behind the climb.

Coach Murphy shares his journey from competing at Springfield College to coaching at AIC and eventually taking over the Ravens program in 2025. We discuss the transition from athlete to coach, building culture within a team, and what he hopes to bring to Franklin Pierce moving forward.

A major focus of the episode is Coach Murphy’s experience climbing Mount Monadnock and why the trip carried significance far beyond the physical challenge. We explore how experiences like that can shape athletes mentally, emotionally, and as teammates.

We also talk about coaching philosophy, the mindset of distance runners, balancing athletics and academics, and the lessons sports can teach beyond competition.

Plus, Coach Murphy’s recovering dog joins us in the studio, making this one of the more relaxed — and wholesome — episodes yet.

Definitely Unscripted.
 Definitely reflective.
 Definitely a climb worth taking.

Thanks for listening! 

Unscripted with Ryan brings you authentic stories from campus and beyond — covering sports, friendships, leadership, and the moments that shape us. New episodes air live Wednesdays at 4 PM on The Talon and are available on all podcast platforms.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

We are live on WFPC LP 105.3 FM Radio, The Talon. I'm Ryan Fitzpatrick, and welcome back to Unscripted with Ryan. We're in the season finale of season one. Um, just once again transitioning to the Chatter in the Swamp with the Keen Swamp Bats after this week. Um we have another pre-recorded episode for you guys next week, but this week is very important. We have a unique guest that we have on here. He's a coach of the men's and women's track and field team and cross country. He's been here since 2025, obviously, just right in June, I think. So he's here. He also had an adventurous trip up to Mount Mananok. Coach Liam Murphy. Coach, how are we doing? Pretty good. Thanks for having me on. No problem, man. No problem. So, I mean, first of all, the puppy's in the room. I mean, uh, you said he he's coming around. He's I mean, first of all, I love dogs, so fur I'm I'm a big fan that you brought him. But you have to watch him now? If it with like intently after some surgery?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Uh a little bit. He's he's pretty good. He's self-sufficient, he's uh just a very curious dog, so just wants to know what's going on, everyone's business and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Well, thanks for joining me today, man. I mean I mean it's like three o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know what your schedule's like going into today. I mean, what what's it what's it look like on a on a summer, I guess we can call it summer now.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yeah, summer for cross country and track coach. Uh I'd assume most coaches honestly have a pretty similar summer schedule for college, um, but it might vary a little bit depending on sport. But uh pretty typical summer for us is just uh recruiting, sending a bunch of emails, texts, uh Instagram DMs, just trying to scope out the next generation of uh student athletes for your team and uh giving tours to those athletes and trying to just get as many contacts and people up to campus as possible and then really just laying out your schedule for the upcoming year. And yeah, it's a little more laid back than the school year itself, but still always some boxes to check and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah, I mean it's a big time for you guys, I'm sure, because I mean obviously it's laid back, but you're still looking for the younger group to come in. Are you looking for more so the like 2027 or 20 like this upcoming fall?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

So right now we're always still in always still looking for a couple last minute 2026 commits uh for fall, but pretty much looking ahead to 2027, like we're really you hit 2027 pretty hard in May uh and June, and then you try and get as many of those kids up in the summer just because the cross country and track like they're always in season, so it's harder for them to tour like during the school year and stuff like that. So, you know, not to rag on any of the other sports, but you know, basketball, baseball, you know, whatever the case is, like you know, those kids have an off-season here and there. The only real off-season for the track and cross-country kids is you know the summer.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

So when they get to go home, yeah. Do you guys do summer academy at all? Because I know like uh there's sports that do stay over and work out with the strength and conditioning coach, but obviously you guys are year-round, so yeah, we we don't really have a whole lot of kids stay on campus during the summer.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

There's a couple kids from the track team that stay and they they work on campus over the summer. Uh, you know, they'll swing by the coach's office from time to time just to say, hey, have a lunch or whatever, but um no, a lot more individualized training. Like we just send out training plans week by week and month by month, and you know, they hold themselves accountable, and you know, the sophomores, juniors, seniors returning just kind of set the standard for uh the the incoming class and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, it wasn't a big stay over the summer guy when I was playing football here because I don't know, I just you want it's it's a time to go home and see the family. Obviously, it's division two level, it's very committed, so um, but I don't know. For me, it's that's an important time as a especially a student athlete. First of all, mental health is a big part of it, but to go home and see your family, right? I mean, what do you think of that?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah, for sure. I'm a big family guy, always kind of have been. Um, but I think it's important like for kids to go home, spend time with family, like even just go back home and like uh just kind of remember what home life is and stuff like that, and uh, you know, go see your hometown friends, see your parents, see your grandparents if they're in the same town, like stuff like that. Um, you know, college is a special four years, but you know, you're here every day, every weekend for you know eight or nine months of the year, sometimes a little more, if you bleed into like the championship season and qualify to certain you know lengths and stuff like that. So you should you should enjoy those seven or eight weeks your home and stuff like that and kind of lean into that.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah. I mean you're from New York, you said, right? You you're from uh Hudson Valley, um right up with the first exit into New York you were talking about.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yep, very very bottom of the state. Um still rural. I usually just tell people, uh, though I'm from Carmel, New York, uh I usually just say somewhere near Danbury, Connecticut, because most people have driven through there at some point or another. Um but yeah, it's it's a good little place. Still very rural. Honestly, it reminds me of Ringe a little bit. A lot of farms. Uh just very small hometown. I feel like it's like 10 to 15 years behind the rest the rest of the country. Are you serious? Yeah, just like a little more old-timey and stuff like that, you know. You got your grocery store, the movie theater, the bowling alley, uh, the mall that is slowly dwindling with each year. But uh, you know, just you got the small hometown stuff, but it always just feels like home.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I mean that always comes with its perks though, right? Because then you know you know everyone in your town. It's like being in a small campus like this. I mean, there's always perks to it being small. Um, but you know, it's it's nice to get out there. I'm surprised it's like that too, with it being so close to New York City. I mean, not so close, but like even outside of Westchester, I feel like um it'd be a little more ahead, but Yeah, you you kind of get the best of both worlds, I think.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Like it's the town itself is very rural, uh, and I feel like the houses and apartments are like very spread out and stuff, but then you are that short, you know, drive or train ride from you know the city and Westchester and White Plains and all that.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

See, this is why as a Long Islander, I classify everything north of the city as upstate. It's all upstate, it's all rural, it's all farmland. I mean, I guess Albany doesn't count, but whatever, Syracuse, Buffalo, but it's still it's all up there. You guys, it's like Canada. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, even though even though it is the very bottom of the state, it I feel like it does have a much more upstate uh identity to it.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yes, I agree. But like, what's it like growing up there? Tell me about like, especially with you going into running. A lot of kids don't like growing up running, so w what was it like? Were you surrounded by running over there?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Um I would say our high school honestly has a very good culture of distance running and honestly is becoming more and more of a track school as the years go by. Um what high school is this? This is Carmel High School. Carmel High School. Um, but there honestly is a good just community of uh track and cross-country in our area, like like you said, Westchester County, Putnam County, um, Dutchess County. Like there there is a strong sense of uh running in that area. So it was cool to grow up there. I feel like a lot of people uh grew up playing soccer, grew up playing baseball, grew up playing basketball, and then kind of transition at some point in high school. Um, whether they do it for a couple years in middle school or early in high school and then find a you know deeper love or passion for the sport, but that's kind of what it was like growing up, uh, you know, playing some other sports and then getting into, you know, tracking cross-country later in high school.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah. And then the recruitment process, uh, being in a smaller place, was it more um challenging than you? I mean, obviously it's it's it's a big cross-country school, you were s you were saying, but um being from a smaller area, do you think it was harder to get recruited or there was there was perks to it?

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Um, honestly, I feel like recruiting has changed a lot in the last ten years, 10, 12 years, like quite a bit. Um like there wasn't all these databases and um like platforms, social media, like that type of stuff. Like social media existed, but it was very up and coming. Uh like I think Instagram, I think, was invented in 2015. I could be wrong. Yeah, 100%. I I could be wrong. 100%. But um like it was just much more difficult to get recruited. Like, I feel like coaches had to be looking on like the actual running sites like milesplit, athletic.net, you know, now you have like NCSA and you know, all these other recruiting sites where I can basically just type in, you know, times and GPAs and majors of interest. Are you interested in D2, D1, D3, NAI, like all this stuff, and you can just find you know every kid within X amount of miles, and you know, that's all up to the coach's discretion on these websites, but you can it's it's much harder to find these like quote unquote like diamond in the rough kids, like these these really special, like unique kids, because there's just so much more exposure now than there's ever was like when I was in high school or you when you were in high school.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah. I mean we're only six years apart, so I guess yeah, so that makes sense. I mean, I get it though. I mean, but you got to go to a pretty good college, Springfield College. Talk to me about that experience. How was how's the academic like uh life over there? How was the college life?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, so Springfield College was um it was on my radar from an early age, but my dad went there, and so in my like recruiting and picking a college process and stuff like that, um, you know, being uh, you know, not ignorant, that's not the right word, but uh just being a stubborn high schooler, like my dad was always like, Oh, you gotta check out Springfield, gotta check out Springfield, and I'm like, I'm not going to your school. Um, I'm going my own path. So I toured like probably probably seven or eight schools. Um talked to three or four of the coaches at those schools, and then a couple of other ones. I was like, maybe I'll just do club running or something there. Those were some of like the bigger D ones that I was like, I can't really run here. Um but then the last school I toured of the whole thing was like my dad finally convinced me like at the very end of my uh or not very end, but like midway through my senior year. He's like, just give it give it a try. So we went up to Springfield, we toured, and you know, midway through the tour, I was like, ah man, I'm like this, this is probably where I'm gonna end up. So I I safe to say I loved it. It was a great uh great find, even though it was presented to me like early on, but uh yeah, I think it worked out for the best. Like I I had a great, great group of guys there to surround myself with, like, very much very much was a student of the sport, honestly, not to like talk myself up or hype myself up. I didn't have like the craziest running resume like leading into college. Like I was very average to be honest. Um But like that group of guys like that I surrounded myself with and that was there, like really set the tone and like took me in. Like, I was probably the slowest freshman in my class by about like 45 seconds in the 5k, maybe a maybe even closer to a minute. Can't quite remember.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Um about growth, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

But just like leaning into those experiences and stuff like that, and I think by the end of my time, like in my grade or in my like group of incoming class, I was like second best in the in the class. So like just surrounding yourself with you know people better than you, I think is that that's how you get better, honestly. Like, I've always kind of been an advocate for that. Like, if you want to get better, you gotta train with people that are better than you.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

That's that's a good way to put it. I always wanted to challenge myself. And you said you kind of res like not resented, but not didn't want to go where your parents went. But like for me growing up, my mom went to Clemson. I'm like, I have to go to Clemson, I have to go to Clemson. Obviously, um it's a little different. I it was a little trouble. I was like, I have to do this, and then I I didn't get it. I don't even think I got into Clemson, to be honest. Um, but you know what? All worked out for the best at Franco Pierce University, man. But uh that but now talk about competing as an athlete, because you were there, um you you you grew what you said, but the difference you made from freshman to senior year, did you think you were gonna stick around the game for a long time?

SPEAKER_00 12:13

In terms of like training myself or coaching.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Training yourself.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Um, yeah. I mean, I like I said, I loved my it was actually like closer to five years because COVID kind of was the in between of my college. So I ended up while I did run like a fifth year quote unquote, it was it was really only four years of running, but I was there for five years. But um, yeah, it was a great four or five years. Um I really enjoyed every minute of it, like just the intensity and like the depth of college running compared to high school was so uh honestly foreign to me. I didn't really expect it to be as different as it was, but it was like different in the best way, like um just like my first my first ever uh 8K in college, which is like a decent jump for most high schoolers. You go from running the 5K in high school to running the 8k in college, and then at D2 and D1 you actually run the the 10K, but we were D3, so I only ended up running the 8K, but I remember my first ever 8K in college, like my coach had told the freshman, just like you know, it's a big jump, like just go out very conservatively, um all this stuff, like just just you know, we're taking this first one as like a trial run, don't put a ton of pressure on it. Uh and 8k again, five miles, five it's just short of five miles, so like 4.97, 4.98. So you can basically call it five miles here and there. Um and I just remember going out with the I went out with the top guy on my team who at the time his mile PR was like four fourteen, I think, four thirteen, and I was just like, I don't think I'm meant to be here right now. And I think we were in like fifth or sixth in the race, and uh safe to say in that race, I think I probably dropped, I could look it up, but I I probably dropped to like 200 and like 20th place by the end of it because I went out so unbelievably hard, but it was a great it was a great learning experience, honestly. Um and like wow that time was absolutely abysmal. Um at the time, at the time at the time, my coach was just like I I love the effort, like I love that you just like kind of threw yourself in the fire, it went horribly after that first mile, but uh like that's a that was one way to rip off the band-aid going into college running. Um and it got it got progressively better from there. Like I ran that same course my fifth year, my final cross-country season, and I think my time that year was about six minutes better than that first year. So it was it was cool to see that growth over a four or five year period, um, and then everything that happened in between. But yeah, the group of guys really made the place. Like it was it was just a very special group of guys, like you know, we've all you know, bet I'm not married, but like handful of them are married at this point, and like we always kinda you know rekindle at those weddings and stuff like that, and you know, I think it just speaks to the sense of camaraderie and like the uh group dynamic that we did have.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Dang, is that gonna happen in five years? And we're gonna see guys getting married that I know that's so weird, man. That's that's a weird, like I'm I'm older now type of feeling, I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah. You'll get to that age, and I feel like it's 26 to 29, where every single time you open Instagram, it's it's someone getting married, someone having a kid, or someone getting engaged, or someone getting a new job. And those are like the four things you see.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Dude, two of my teammates from last year, teammates I was teammates with last year just got engaged in the past two weeks. Yeah. Two of them. It's crazy. Shout out Adrian Parker and Austin Howe. That's like I can't believe it's getting that old. But uh, you talked about that growth, but you talked about going into the fire and your coach recognizing it. Now you can also translate that as you're going into the coaching now. Um talk about that transition when you're coming become from being an athlete your whole life to being at now a leadership role on top and also mentoring as a coach.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I think just going back to that same exact race, like, um, just things I've learned through the years, and like one of the biggest things I feel like that race in that period of time taught me was like I was a very, very nervous athlete. I was always like one who worked out a lot better than like I raced, and I think part of that was just some nerves, but also um, like I tell the guys here and girls here a lot, like um, you know, like there really is no need to be nervous in the sense that like n like be a little nervous, like nerves just mean you care, but um, like if you're prepared, like you know, we lift, we do all this training, we do the long runs, we do the summer build, like if you do all this preparation, there's almost like I don't want to say no need to be nervous, like be a little bit nervous, like we said, it just means you care, but like don't have this like omer overwhelming like race anxiety and nerves and stuff like that, because if you've done all this preparation, like you should be confident in your ability and stuff to like execute, and um, you know, I think you should be nervous when you're not prepared, when you when you know you you know slacked off all or most of the summer, you've missed lifts, you you know, maybe are you know just hitting only the pizza station at the dining hall every single day.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Pizza station at the dining hall is rough.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Um but like in terms of that, like if you're if you're prepared, you should be able to kind of mitigate those nerves. Um and you should be nervous if you've uh kind of ignored those warning signs for you know an extended period of time, not just a short period of time.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

No, what made what made you feel co feel like coaching was right at the time?

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Uh so I went to school to be a physical education and health teacher. Um, and I still might do that at some point in my life. Uh I think it w if I do, it'll be a much later down the line type of thing when I want to like have a family and maybe a little more uh not rigid schedule, but just like a little more like set schedule. College coaching is a lot of like on the fly, and you know, you typically have a much bigger team than most high schools, not all, but most. Um so like physical education and health definitely set the tone um of like I want to help people, I want to be involved in like wellness, but the later and later I got down the line in terms of uh my like my own running journey in college and then doing some internships, like coaching and teaching at like high school as well as at Springfield, was just like yeah, that kind of solidified like yeah, I want to give this like college coaching uh thing a try for at least a handful of years and just see how it goes, type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Nice. And are with your background, are you used to working with both men's and women's track and feel? Is that how usually how it goes, or um is this like a newer type of feel?

SPEAKER_00 19:17

It just depends on uh really the size of the school, the division, like how many people are on staff at like a given institution. Um, but for me it's been a pretty that's been a pretty regular thing. My coach at Springfield coached the men and women's distance. Uh my previous job I coached men's and women's distance, and same thing here, men's and women's distance.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

And you feel like it's like a smooth transition, like not not much of a difference from going from one athlete who can be struggling to a female athlete from to a men's athlete?

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Uh ever every school, every position, every athlete is very different. Um I I would like to think my training is very uh if not one of one, like one of two or three. Like for for a given week, we have about uh this past year we had ten distance guys, uh, and then like eleven midway through the year with a transfer, and then women we had five this past year, but then our whole overarching track team we have about close to ninety. So uh, you know, with a couple other coaches as well. But um, you know, most of the guys and girls on the distance side, you know, have an individualized plan, or if it's not individualized, it might be like, okay, Evan Noah, you guys are very middle distance based, and you you have similar, you know, personal records, and I think you guys adapt to the same training well. So if it's not individualized, it's very uh very as close to individualized as you can get. And as the team grows more and more, you might have to see, you know, twos and threes start getting lumped together. Um but ultimately I think it's it's very individualized training for the most part. Um and like I said, we c it's it's almost like uh not matchmaking, but it's like you're you're pairing similar disciplines and similar uh you know personal records one you know hand in hand with one another to kind of train people at the best uh like rate.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah, because I never thought of it like that. Like well, I mean, you know, all sports are really split besides track and field and cross country, so it's really cool to see those two work together, and I never got really insight on that, so that's pretty cool. And um so you come over here from you know, you've had a few years since you graduated college. What attracted you to Franklin Pierce University?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

So what attracted me to Franklin Pierce was that uh so I was previously coaching in the same conference before this, uh much smaller institution. I only had about like twenty to twenty five kids on my team last year, and then this year, like I said, we have close to ninety. Um so that was a big that was a big attraction. I wanted a much larger team, and like while I was growing that other team, I wanted to take kind of like this big leap and like be kind of close to. A hundred and then you know be able to elevate that team to like just over a hundred within you know two or three years. Um and then also like on top of that, like I have a lot of family up here in New Hampshire. Like I said, like family is something that's very important to me. So um, you know, while I have some immediate family still in New York, there is a lot more of my family in New Hampshire, so that was definitely attractive. Um and then while I am the head cross-country and track coach here, you know, cross-country is my main um, you know, that's like my bread and butter, that's what I did in college. Um, and you know, while I still can coach other events and stuff like that, like that's you know, like I said, what I went to college for, um, you know, and I coach all three seasons of the year. So uh leaning into that a bit, I think Franklin Pierce is like a very, very uh good place, not only for a track team, but you know, even better for a cross-country team. Like you're surrounded by lakes, tons of dirt roads, mountains, left and right, and it's it's just very uh it is a rural campus, it's a small town, it's a small New England college. Um and I think it attracts like uh you know those type of people with a very uh simple outlook on life. Like if you want to just train very hard and go to school and you know, maybe work a part-time job, like if those are like the three or four like very paramount things in your life, you know, out of high school, and like you want to run, you know, fast times and you know get a degree in whatever you're passionate in, like I think this is a good place to do it. There's not a whole lot of distractions, like you really just get to focus on you know your studies, your uh your coaches, the other athletes you're working with around you. But it's uh I think it's a great place to train and grow over, you know, your four or five years.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, and most most college students on this campus are athletes too, so they know what the grind is like. Obviously, it defers sport to sport, but they know what you go through.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, that was another thing. Um, and I'm glad you mentioned that. Like, I think you know, being on a cam I don't know what the exact number is, but it's gotta be close to like 70 to 80 percent of our campus is uh student athletes. Um so I think you're right, like even if you're not on the cross-country or the track team, you know, you're on one of the other sports teams, and it seems like our you know, every team in my opinion is trending in an upwards direction. Like football this year won the most games they've ever won in a season. And men and women's soccer made the national championship run, uh women's field hockey made a national championship run. Uh the basketballs did well in the conference. Um I'm sure I'm leaving some people out. No hate to the other sports, but softball best season in history. Like just and like you said, like I think there's that mutual understanding and respect that uh, you know, even if someone's not on the same team as you, they understand that grind of what you're going through. Um that everyone's trying to compete at a high level uh and has to have those sacrifices and uh mutual understanding for one another at times. So I think it's a great campus for stuff like that as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, and coming in here as a coach, I mean, on the football side of things, I mean, it's a newer program, so that was different for Coach Gas to come in and take over a program that's new, but he had his challenges to face. I mean, obviously, it's a rebuild. Anytime a new coach is coming in, i there's it's always a challenge to take a program over. So, what do you think yours was um coming into this program? Obviously, not far from a new program, but there there had to be some challenge, I would think, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:31

It actually still is like somewhat of a new program, to be honest. Like for a cross-country and track program, it it still is fairly new. It's only about like 14 or 15 years old. Um yeah, 14 or 15 years old. And I actually am the only I am the second ever head coach, uh, Coach Zem who started it. And you know, I took over for him once he, you know, left. He he's been the only other head coach. So any program that has a head coach um, you know, take on a new role, like you're gonna you're gonna have growing pains. Um you know, some people do really well with change, others don't. Um so it's it's just a work in progress. Like, you know, I'm sure him and I have a lot of similar, you know, values and stuff like that, but everyone's gonna have their own twist and spin on things. So uh I think we both have a great you know vision for the program, but there is gonna just be little bits and pieces of uh you know culture change and um you know whatever else. Like there's there's just gonna be some growing pains and some uh culture changes as the years go on. But I think the biggest thing I tried not to do this year is that you know, while you do want it to become like you know, your coaching and your staff's program over time, you don't want to make these like radical big changes in your first year. You kind of want to keep you know the current student athletes like in in motion, if that makes sense. Like the program was seeing tons of success before I got here, so you don't want to come in and make these big monumental changes and then it throws off everyone's game. So you have to take an outside look and go, okay, here's what they were doing in the past, it was working. Now, how do we keep that but elevate it? So it's like and that's hard to do when you have a program when you come into a program that's already having a ton of success, it's like um you want to give these small doses, um it's kind of like lifting. Like you can't just go, you know, I'll just use trap bar for example, because that's my favorite lift. So if if your PR is let's just say a hundred pounds on trap bar, you're not gonna like one day, you know, in a week or two walk into the gym and be like, alright, I'm gonna throw three hundred on the bar. Like you would look at me and be like, Are you out of your mind? Like your PR is a hundred from last week. Uh, like how are you gonna go to three hundred? Like, that's the same thing with like me trying to work the program, you know, in my direction. I wanna, you know, you know, maybe September, October, you know, maybe I throw 120 on the bar. Then, you know, December maybe 150. And then by the time we're at May, maybe I'm up to, I don't know, 175, 180. But you can't just jump, you can't just jump like these tiers all at once to try and like make the program, you know, elevate and stuff like that. Otherwise, you're probably gonna break something in the process.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

So that's a good way to put it, yeah. It's not just affecting you, it's affecting everybody and the entire team. So I get it. Yeah, that's awesome. So, um, you're a younger guy though. You come into here, um, what are the challenges that you face like that? Because obviously you're in your twenties and you were an athlete too long ago, so I'm sure there's times t that you also can relate heavily to the players and the athletes that you have, but also um getting that that leadership and respect of uh your athletes being young.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Sure. I think that honestly is the hardest part. Um the the youngness is always going to be questioned for the first handful of years until you kind of you know prove and solidify yourself that like you know you're kind of meant to be here type of thing. Right. Um, you know, because some some people, whether you know they're at, you know, this institution or a different staff, they'll be like, you know, uh he's young, he's only 27, he he might not know, you know, XYZ or this night might not be finite type of thing. But um, you know, I've been very involved in the running world for a long time. Like uh I'm trying to think of like what year I started running. But I mean I graduated high school in 2017, like gone to running camps, I've gone to seminars, I'm I'm certified by USTF to CCCA, like uh I ran in college myself. I have some great mentors that have coached um, you know, D3, D2, D1, even some like low-tier professional uh running and stuff like that. So I think the biggest thing is like you gotta lean on people when you're young, like even if you think you know what you're doing, um, it's always not a bad idea to get a second opinion from you know the staff here. You know, they still carry a great deal of you know perspective and uh you know years under the belt. Coach Kyle, for example, like he's he's been here since the beginning of the program. Uh he went here himself. He's a very decorated athlete himself here, and then you know, you also got Coach Everidge, who's Big C. Yeah, Big C, who's our throws coach, also went here. Uh arguably, you know, again, similar to Coach Kyle, like one of the more decorated like throwers in school history, if not, if not the most decorated men's thrower. So, um you know that's that's a very uh big asset to the program. Like, you know, they they have you know the old culture behind them, and like they can instill kind of those old things that worked really well, and then we can also trial and error, like, okay, what do we want the future to look like that it that it didn't have before? Um or it's just even little things like um you know, like what kind of spices can we add to this you know, dish that's gonna make it even better than it already is. So uh you just gotta lean on them. Um so we I leaned on them a lot this first year, and they were uh extremely helpful, and um, you know, also just my mentors like outside the program because it's uh you got you know what's one of my bigger mentors is uh Leo Mayo, he's the coach of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and then I would say another big one is Amanda Coolis, she's a uh a jumps coach and a pole vault coach at um Dartmouth College, and then you know, the old staff I had at Springfield, you know, those are all great uh examples of like mentors in my life and like a good good spread of divisions as well. So it's like you kind of got you know a bunch of different eyes and ears and outside perspectives that you know you don't you also the great thing about mentors too is you don't you don't have to take everything they say. You can you can take the parts you like and then you know add in the parts that you think will uh you know make it better.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

True.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

So or like you can sometimes get advice from people, whether it's a mentor or a friend or whatever, and like you can just be like, that's awful advice in your head, and you can just be like, I'm gonna do the exact opposite of that. And like sometimes sometimes it bites you in the butt and sometimes it works out perfectly. So it there's a lot of trial and error involved, honestly, and I think I think the biggest part is just like recognizing when you're right, and also the harder part, recognizing when you're wrong, and just being like that did not work, and just being very uh transparent with that and being like we're gonna segue and not do that again, type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Now, going away from the uh college competing, I know, and then one of the big reasons I had you on here actually was the Manadnock climb that you had. Talk to me a little bit about that and why because it Mount Manadnock here in New Hampshire, it's one of the most hiked mountains in America, if not the most hiked mountains. Um, but yours was um interesting, so tell me why it's uh a lot more different than than the average hike.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Yeah, so it's uh Mount Mananoch has a trail called the White Dot Trail, and it's one of the more technical trails, so there's a lot of rocks, a lot of routes. Uh it's like basically once you're nearing the top, it is you're you're almost rock climbing at a point when you're close to the top.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Um and it's not that I got bored of running, but I feel like uh coaching has been a lot more forefront of my life. I care a lot more about uh the athlete's progression than my own progression. So I still run for fun, I still run for like health and all that, and I'll usually throw like one or two races on the calendar every year that I'm like, yeah, I really want to train like kind of hard for this and um you know put some effort into this and like have a good buildup and stuff like that, but I've never really done a competitive like trail race or trail run. Um but this particular uh Mount Man Mount Mananock White Dot Trail, um it's not a race, but it's what's called the FKT Fastest Known Time. Um and I have the stats on my phone just because I know I can't remember all this stuff, but it's roughly like 1.8 to 1.9 miles, and there's 1700 feet of gain. So usually for like our distance crew, I would consider if you do a 10-mile run, for example, I would say a thousand feet of gain is a hilly run. Um, you know, about a hundred feet per mile. So if you do a seven mile run, you know, seven hundred feet of gain would be that'd be a hilly run. So seven hundred seventeen hundred feet in less than two miles is considered extremely, extremely hilly to say the least. Like you said, it's a it's a mountain um and very technical at that, like rocks, roots, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Oh yeah, rivers.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Maybe yeah, yeah. But uh the fastest known time up it is 24 minutes and 14 seconds, which doesn't sound that fast. It's about 1327 per mile. Um But I did some calculations and some stuff like that. It's it's roughly equivalent to running like 420 pace on a track, but like up a mountain, but in terms of that's just in terms of effort, like yeah, like we said, it was about 13 minutes a mile, but um the effort is much greater than that due to the you know the strain and difficulty of the trail and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Yeah. Because I mean, you put into perspective, you said 24 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot. What to hear about how I got up was a senior trip my senior year last year. We went up as a class, we stayed up all night having fun, and to go for a sunrise hike. So we would go up and see the sunrise. So we left at 2 a.m. after a long night to go up there, brought a gallon of water to pour on ourselves. It took uh all of us, and I think I I like went up there relatively quickly, it took like a couple hours. It took an hour to two and it took an hour to two hours of what I could say for most of us to get up there, and that's not just like stopping either. You're not stopping. Like we're obviously we're walking most of it, we're not running, but it took a while to get up there. So 24 minutes is quick. It really is. And what was your time again?

SPEAKER_00 36:39

My time of it? So I've done trial runs so far. I haven't given like a full hundred, hundred and fifty percent effort yet. Um I've done trial runs. I realistically think I could run about twenty-eight, twenty-nine minutes right now.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Pretty dang good.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

So, and that and that's just speculation. I would I would like to give it on honest effort, but I've done a couple uh quote unquote like jogs up it, like um, you know, where it takes about like 40 minutes, 45 minutes, which you know is still about 20 minutes off the the record, but you're basically looking for okay, here's a spot where I think it levels out for a second. You're almost trying to gain familiarity of the trail and be like, where can I make up the most time? Because like I said, once you the closer you it you get to the top, the steeper it gets. So, you know, at the bottom, you kind of want to get out hot, even if it's gonna, you know, hurt a little more in the middle to the end, but you gotta try and make up ground in that first you know mile. That way, that next 0.8, 0.9, that's very, very technical and very, very steep. You know, the first mile, I think, is only about like eight or nine percent grade, and then the last little less than a mile is about like almost 20% grade. So, you know, typically when you're driving, like if people are going up like a very, very, very steep hill, you're like, um, you know, most of those hills on the road are like only like five or six percent grade. So like you're trying to run up like almost triple per uh that grade. Um so you're just looking for spots that basically you think you can make up some time and stuff like that, or you know, you find a spot that levels out for your bit and you're like, I gotta push here. Um, but you almost want to do those slower, uh kind of more controlled efforts, you know, a couple times before you go for the actual record. That way, um you kind of know your game plan going into it. It's not like a track race uh or a marathon or something like that where you kind of know what to expect. Like a track race, especially, you know, you know nothing's changing. What's gonna change is the other people around you and their paces and their tactics and their moves. This is a lot more you against you type of thing, where um you're pushing yourself, there's not anyone else in the race unless you're doing it with a buddy or two.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Um like a ghost race.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah, kind of ghost race. Like you're trying to, you know, beat yourself and the other people who have set the times in the past. So, yeah, a big goal for mine by the end of the summer is try and crack in that top ten list and see how close I can get to the record. I I don't think the record's happening anytime soon. Um, as long as I'm living here, I want to try and uh give it a couple honest efforts each summer and fall and just see how close we can get. Like a new challenge. Um, like I said, I'm not bored of running or you know, out of it, but uh I I just want to try something new and get a new experience, and I I think that's what's great about running uh opposed to other sports and stuff like that. You know, post-collegiate there is, you know, you can join a soccer club or a flag football or whatever the case is, but uh you don't you don't really ever have to leave running, is the great thing. You might not have the college team, you might you might not train with the same group of guys or gals every single day, but there's always gonna be road races, marathons, trail runs. Uh you can do the one on uh the FKTs, you can challenge yourself, like you said, the ghost runs. Um it's all it's all different types of um you know ways to stay engaged in the sport after college and stuff like that, which I think is great.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Yeah, man. Well, I think you're gonna I think if you keep going at it. Holy crap, oh Otis is out. Oh he's knocked out. He's knocked out in the corner over there. Um well I think you if you keep cracking at it, you get in that top five, maybe we'll give it a go. Give it a go. And uh listen, we'll be we'll be looking forward to seeing it, obviously. And I can still be here when I see it, so hopefully uh be happy to hear from you when you do. Obviously, it's gonna take time, but um, we'll have you back on it when you do. Before we go, though, a little rapid fire with Ryan Fitz shortened version. Uh, where's your favorite running spot?

SPEAKER_00 40:52

My favorite running spot? Ooh, this is hard. Um I would say off the rip is Lake Willoughby, which is in Vermont. It's in very northern Vermont in a small town called uh just north of Lyndonville, Vermont, but the population of the town, I mean, it's gotta be it's gotta be very real low. Um I don't even want to try and take a guess because I feel like I'm gonna do them a complete disservice. Um But it is a very, very niche spot. Uh it's it's a spot I've gone to probably every summer for the last probably decade. Um and do at least one, if not couple runs there. Uh it's just a beautiful, beautiful landscape. You got a nice view of the lake, and like once you're done, especially if you go up in the summer, you can um you know hop in the lake. It's I think it's the deepest lake in Vermont. And uh it was actually like carved out by a glacier like a million years ago. I don't know. Alright, yeah, look that up. But yeah, it's pretty cool. Take a look. Lake Lake Willoughby in Vermont.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

And now best running music.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

Uh I don't I don't really listen to a whole lot of music when I run. Nature. Um, rarely listen to music um unless I'm on the treadmill, which again, not very frequent. Uh this past winter was the most I've ever ran on a treadmill. We had a brutal winter up here in Ringe, but um. I would say if I am listening to something on the treadmill, probably probably some sort of like pop punk music like either Blink 182 or uh Green Day or something something along that genre um of music.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Yeah, that's awesome, man. Alright, last question for you is running peaceful.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Is is running to you peaceful?

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Um it depends. It if you're if you're just running for fun and you're taking it easy, by by all means it's it's uh peaceful. I I've always found running as like an outlet in my life. Like running uh comes very naturally to me when other things in my life are not going well. It's it's very much an outlet. Um and then once you've done it long enough, you hopefully have gained enough fitness where it it is it is very uh peaceful most of the time. Yeah. Um but I think the funny thing is I think I think a lot of people think uh college runners or like even people better than college runners is like um like running is like easy for us. I think it just gets like harder, honestly. Because you're just you're just expected to run faster and further. So um I that's the great thing now about running it. Like like we said a couple times on this, it's it's you against you. It's the one of one thing. So you're really you're really just trying to beat yourself, so.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Yeah. Well, those are the wise words from Coach Liam Murphy, ladies and gentlemen. And Liam, thank you so much for taking the time with me today. Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I really appreciate it, man, and uh we're looking forward for you beating that time. And like I said, when you beat it, we're gonna have you right back on here to talk about that journey, man. Sounds good. We'll talk about it. Yeah, so thank you everyone, including you guys listening for joining. Joining us today here on the town. That's WFP C L P 105.3 FM radio. This has been unscripted with Ryan. Again, we live air, we we air live every Wednesday at four o'clock. We did a little earlier today. But um we are coming to the ends of season one, but we're gonna restart it again next week, next in the next few months about, but we'll have chatter in the swamp coming at you as well. So thank you all for joining me. This is Ryan Fitzpatrick signing off. Peace.