Report: Harvard expected to hire Rutgers TEs coach Andrew Aurich as next head football coach

The Harvard Crimson are expected to hire Rutgers tight ends coach Andrew Aurich as the team’s next head football coach, per a report by The Harvard Crimson.

Andrew Aurich is replacing longtime head coach Tim Murphy. After coaching the Crimson since 1994 and winning 10 Ivy League titles, Murphy stepped down in January.

He played offensive line at Ivy League rival Princeton and spent the last four seasons with Rutgers. It was his second stint coaching at Rutgers.

He previously coached running backs and offensive linemen at Rutgers as well. Prior to that, Aurich had been the offensive coordinator at Princeton in 2019 where he had also been the team’s offensive line coach. While there, Princeton had consistently good offensive lines.

Andrew Aurich has also coached in the NFL, under current Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, as well as Concordia Academy and Albright College.

This report comes shortly after The Harvard Crimson reported that Andrew Aurich was one of four finalists for the job. That included Sean Ryan, an analyst at South Carolina, and two internal candidates, Scott Larkee and Joel Lamb. The school, however, did not comment on the coaching search and no official announcement has been made.

With the move, Andrew Aurich becomes just the fourth Harvard head coach since 1957. In that time, John Yovicsin coached the team for 14 seasons. Joe Restic then led the team for 23 seasons. After that, Tim Murphy took over the next three decades.

Longtime Harvard head coach Tim Murphy stepped down

Tim Murphy took over the Harvard program in 1994 and in January, at 67 years old, he made the decision to step down, forcing the Crimson to go on their first head coaching search in 30 years.

Along with his 10 Ivy League titles, Murphy compiled an overall record of 200-89 at Harvard, making him the winningest coach in program history. To get there, he surpassed his predecessor, Joe Restic by 83 wins and five conference titles. That includes a shared title in 2023 and being named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year in 2023.

A Massachusetts native, Tim Murphy played at Springfield College and got his start in coaching at Brown as a part-time assistant during the 1979 season.

Prior to coaching at Harvard, Tim Murphy was also the head coach at Maine and Cincinnati. Murphy also became the president of the American Football Coaches Association in 2012.