{"id":18994,"date":"2026-02-02T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=18994"},"modified":"2026-02-01T17:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:33:05","slug":"a-championship-career-mark-murphy-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2026\/02\/02\/a-championship-career-mark-murphy-77\/","title":{"rendered":"A Championship Career: Mark Murphy \u201977"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

In the early \u201990s, Mark Murphy \u201977 was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a career he enjoyed and was expecting to continue for years to come, when a new opportunity emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colgate, his alma mater, was searching for a director of athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murphy had a degree in economics from Colgate and played four seasons of football with the Raiders. He played eight seasons as a safety with the then-Washington Redskins, winning a Super Bowl and earning one trip to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After retiring from pro football, he landed a job with the NFL Players Association, then later spent three years as a federal prosecutor with the DOJ. By this point, roughly 15 years after leaving Colgate, he had plenty of experience in various roles, but little when it came to running a collegiate athletics department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, he applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he interviewed for the job, one of the people who had a major say in the hiring was then-Colgate President Neil R. Grabois \u2014 who was impressed with Murphy\u2019s vision for Colgate athletics. Murphy got the job, and just like that, his career veered in a whole new direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I look back, I\u2019m really appreciative that Colgate and Neil Grabois hired me as the athletics director,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cThat completely changed my career trajectory. I was looking at a career as an attorney. I enjoyed my work at the Department of Justice, but I missed my involvement in athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cColgate really took a chance on me,\u201d he adds. \u201cI was relatively young and inexperienced in terms of intercollegiate athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murphy was Colgate\u2019s athletics director from 1992\u20132003. Afterward, he took a similar role at Northwestern University, where he spent four years before he returned to the NFL, this time as the president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He would go on to achieve a remarkable career, managing the franchise for 17 years. In that time, the Packers had a record of 172-101-2, becoming the winningest team in the NFC North. He signed quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a long-term deal after one season as a starter, a move that helped cement Green Bay as a division powerhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Packers made eight consecutive playoff appearances with Rodgers, winning the Super Bowl in 2011. Rodgers\u2019 career with the Packers later earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition Murphy helped lead a project to expand Lambeau Field, adding 6,700 seats. Under his watch, the Packers built the Titletown District, a development that brought residential housing along with commercial and public spaces near the stadium. The Titletown District played a big role in bringing the 2025 NFL Draft to Green Bay, which was a proud moment for Murphy, who got to introduce the Packers\u2019 first-round pick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murphy, 70, retired in July, leaving Lambeau Field as a beloved executive who helped take the Packers to new heights. \u201cI know I can\u2019t completely retire,\u201d he said at the time, adding, \u201cI\u2019m looking for things that will keep me engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, not long after, Murphy decided to go back to college. In August he became the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay\u2019s first executive in residence, a role through which he will help strengthen the Division I program, build partnerships, assist with strategic projects, and mentor coaches and staff. \u201cWith all the changes that are taking place to athletics, I look forward to being helpful there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Murphy \u201977 met his wife, Laurie (Young) \u201978, when he and a friend were driving to Florida for spring break his junior year and the car broke down. Through a ride-share program at the Coop, Mark and Laurie ended up in the same car \u2014 and they\u2019ve been traveling through life together ever since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at the career of Mark Murphy \u201977 in light of his retirement as president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":20996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[354,40,277,62,1275,1553],"coauthors":[1130],"class_list":["post-18994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-news","category-alumni-updates","tag-alumni","tag-athletics","tag-economics","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-retirement"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-4Wm","amp_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/01\/0078_002-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18994"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22980,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994\/revisions\/22980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}