Cape Coral High School has named a new head football coach just days before the fall season begins. Former Florida quarterback Tyler Murphy will be replacing Isaac Harvin. Lee County School District Representative Rob Spicker announced on Monday, August 12 that Harvin was no longer employed by the district after being
suspended in May for an undisclosed investigation
.
Murphy slid into the new role as head coach with ease on Tuesday as he has already been leading the Seahawks summer workouts.
"I'm going to have the same approach no matter what," said Murphy. "Whether I'm an offensive coordinator, head coach, assistant, it doesn't matter. I'm going to make sure I give this team my best effort each and every day and allow them to have the best shot of success."
Murphy is bringing in years of experience as both a player and a coach. The Connecticut native went to the University of Florida his freshman year in 2010, making his first appearance in his junior year when Jeff Driskel suffered a season-ending injury. He then moved to Boston College for his final year where he broke the ACC record for single-season rushing yards by a quarterback with 1,076. Murphy was the first BC quarterback to rush for 100 yards in a single game, which he did on four occasions.
While at Florida, Murphy played with Cape Coral alum Jaylen Watkins, who is also on the Seahawks coaching staff.
"We were college roommates at University of Florida," said Murphy. "So we started to joke around about us coaching together. Me being the OC, him being the DC, or me being the head coach and him being the DC. I'm very fortunate to be in the position because of him. He was one of the people that suggested my name for the role to fill in. So it's always great to have his blessing, especially with how much success he's had here and the impact he's had in the community. It's been great to have him by my side to help me out.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and receiver initially joined the Cape Coral coaching staff in January as the offensive coordinator and he has hit the ground running preparing the Hawks for a new era.
"He's really installed hard work in us, attitude, effort, holding the standard and keeping the standard," said Cape Coral junior receiver Vincent Miranda. "No one below the team, no one above the team."
"It's going amazing," said Cape Coral junior linebacker Kaison Tober. "It's the best season I've been on the team for. He brought positivity and a standard that he lets no one slack off."
The Seahawks are coming off of a 4-6 season in 2023, and they're ready to tackle every obstacle to get over the hump this year.
"We talk about that a lot," said Murphy. "We always try to reevaluate things from last year. Figure out what we did well, figure out what we did wrong. And so the big word for us is 'complacency.' Just talking with the guys, talking with people here last year, just reevaluating and watching film myself - we feel like as a team, we got complacent. We started off hot. With going 4-0, you stop working hard. You think you have it figured out, and that's when you get trouble. So you kind of have to always be paranoid a little bit and just know that the more success you have, people are going to be gunning for you and want to knock you off. So just not being complacent and continuing to work hard each and every day and take things one day at a time.
The Seahawks begin their 2024 season at the Kickoff Classic this Friday night taking on Aubrey Rogers.
Tune into our ABC7 High School Football Kickoff this Saturday, August 17 at 7:30pm.