After leading the team to a record-setting season as interim head coach, Steve Murphy has officially been named the head coach at Buffalo State for the 2016-17 season.
Murphy took the reins as interim coach in the summer of 2015 when Nick Carriere left Buffalo State for an assistant coaching position with the St. John IceCaps of the American Hockey League.
During his interim season, Murphy guided the Bengals to a school record for wins in a season with an overall record of 15-7-4. Buffalo State also finished 11-4-1 in SUNYAC play and posted its highest-ever finish in the conference standings, placing second. The Bengals appeared in the SUNYAC semifinals for the fifth-consecutive season and hosted the game for the first time in program history.
Murphy joined the Bengals’ staff as an assistant in 2013 with multiple years of combined experience coaching, scouting, officiating and playing. In his last stint before coming to Buffalo State, Murphy was the assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach for the Kenai River Brown Bears of the North American Hockey League.
He was also a head referee in the NAHL for the 2011-12 season and spent two years as a head scout for Kenai River. His other coaching experience includes stints as the head coach of the Alaska All-Stars U16 team, as well as the assistant coach and director of player personnel for the Steele County Blades in the since-dissolved Minnesota Junior Hockey League.
Murphy was a four-year Division III player at both Curry and St. Mary’s, earning his bachelor’s degree in sport management from SMU in 2011.
