Former Florida staffer Keith Murphy joins Central Michigan as special teams coordinator
Another coach has reunited with Jim McElwain.
Former Florida special teams quality control coach Keith Murphy has been hired by McElwain to join Central Michigan as the special teams coordinator, according to a source with knowledge of the hiring.
Murphy is already on Central Michigan's campus, preparing for spring practices to start Feb. 15.
For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Murphy was at Southern Illinois, a Football Championship Subdivision program, as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.
Murphy's first day at Florida under McElwain was Feb. 9, 2016, and he's worked there ever since.
Despite McElwain's firing from the Gators midway through the 2017 season, Murphy stayed on the coaching staff as the special teams quality control coach through the changes brought by four-game interim Randy Shannon and new coach Dan Mullen.
Murphy is now rejoining McElwain, as FootballScoop first reported, and he's replacing Ryan Beard, who served as the special teams coordinator and safeties coach for the Chippewas during the 2019 season.
Beard left to follow his father-in-law, Bobby Petrino, to Missouri State as the defensive coordinator.
The other coaching staff change this offseason was to linebackers coach Mark DeBastiani, who joined Appalachian State as a defensive assistant.
McElwain countered by hiring a new linebackers coach in Tim Skipper, someone he had already worked with three times in the past, including three years at Florida (2015-17).
