PHOENIX (AP) — Pat Murphy says he knows he belongs with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Now the two-time NL manager of the year has agreed to a new contract that assures he will remain in Milwaukee for some time to come.
Murphy has led the Brewers to division titles and has been selected as NL manager of the year each of his first two seasons on the job. He had been Milwaukee’s bench coach on Craig Counsell’s staff for eight seasons before taking over as manager.
“I don’t want to be with any other organization,” Murphy told reporters Friday from the Brewers’ spring training complex after the deal was announced. “I feel really connected. This is going on my 11th season. I feel really part of it. I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Murphy’s contract had been set to expire at the end of the season before he and the Brewers agreed to terms on this new deal. He had taken over as Milwaukee’s manager after Counsell let his contract run out following the 2023 season and then signed a lucrative deal with the rival Chicago Cubs.
Counsell said he talked to Murphy on Thursday night.
“Thrilled for him,” Counsell said before the Cubs’ Cactus League opener in Mesa. “Absolutely thrilled for him.”
The Brewers didn’t release terms of Murphy’s contract. The Athletic, which first reported Murphy’s new deal, said he now has a three-year contract with a club option for 2029.
“I really didn’t have any doubt that this was going to work out,” Murphy told reporters. “I’m really grateful, really thankful.”
Murphy, 67, owns a 190-134 record as Milwaukee’s manager and has helped the Brewers wildly outperform preseason forecasts each of the last two years. The Brewers earned a franchise-record 97 wins last season, won a third straight NL Central title and beat Counsell’s Cubs in the NL Division Series before getting swept in the NL Championship Series by the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Brewers went 93-69 and won the NL Central championship in 2024 before losing an NL Wild Card Series to the New York Mets.
Along the way, he has delighted Brewers fans and gained attention for his unique style, which has included pulling out pancakes from his pocket during a televised dugout interview and having his sons frequently sitting alongside him at postgame news conferences.
“He fits a young team really well, getting guys to believe in themselves — the kind of players who have made up our team over the years, where guys maybe hadn’t had success in other places and kind of come here and find their footing, find success and find themselves,” Brewers outfielder/designated hitter Christian Yelich told reporters.
Murphy is the first Brewers skipper ever to get named manager of the year. The only other people ever to get selected as manager of the year in consecutive seasons are Atlanta’s Bobby Cox (2004-05), Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash (2020-21) and Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt (2024-25).
“He’s special,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told reporters. “I love the fact he wants to continue to challenge everyone in the room and try to make everyone better. I think he’s not afraid. He’s competitive. He’s going to fight you tooth and nail for a win and to make you better off the field. He cares about people. I love that about him.”
Murphy’s only previous major league managerial experience came when he went 42-54 on an interim basis with San Diego in 2015 after the firing of Bud Black. He was a minor league manager in the Padres organization from 2011-2015.
Before that, Murphy posted a combined 947-400-2 coaching record at Notre Dame (1988-94) and Arizona State (1995-2009). He coached Counsell at Notre Dame and helped Arizona State reach the College World Series championship game in 1998.
He had a total of 1,000 college wins in a career that also included stints at Division-III Maryville (1983) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (1986-87).
“I really feel lucky driving to work every day,” Murphy told reporters. “I feel lucky this is what I do for a living. I feel lucky that someone says, ‘Yes, yeah, we want you to be in this position for our organization. I feel lucky and I feel fortunate. I know how tough it is to get there.”
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