Building the University

Chuck Murphy (’73) has been around long enough to see the GU Wall go up, most of the buildings standing on campus take shape and the landscape beautified in spectacular ways.

He’s seen five presidents, hundreds of faculty members and staff come and go, Gonzaga receive status as one of the top 100 nationally rated universities in the country and the men’s basketball team make 27 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament.

He has had a hand in all of it for most of the past 57 years.

He came to Gonzaga as a freshman in 1969 when men were trying to look like the Beatles with long hair, paisley shirts and bell-bottom trousers. He graduated with a degree in accounting in 1973 when Gonzaga’s summer payroll was being guaranteed by Trustee Harry Magnuson because of poor past fiscal management. Murphy returned to his alma mater in 1978 as controller under the watchful eye of new President Bernard Coughlin, S.J., to begin this 48-year string of service to the University and its students.

“Looking back on the things I worked on, my focus was always on, ‘How can we be better for our students next year, and the year after that,’ ” says Murphy, who was promoted in 1985 to vice president for finance, and moved to chief strategy officer in 2018, making way for his protégé, Joe Smith, to assume the role of chief finance officer.

“I always felt a great deal of gratitude to Father Coughlin for taking a chance on a 34-year-old controller when he promoted me to vice president,” Murphy says. In much the same way, Murphy knew Smith was ready to succeed him, and convinced then-president Thayne McCulloh to make the change. “Joe is a very talented individual, with good technical and people skills, a combination you don’t always see in people from the financial realm.”

One of Murphy’s greatest points of satisfaction is hiring the quality people he added to his team: controllers like Rick Jones, Deena Presnell and Smith, and working with direct reports in athletics and plant and construction services, areas he oversaw.

Murphy came to GU as a finance guy, but he enjoyed a breadth of projects.

“The Martin Centre Fieldhouse, the Rudolf Fitness Center and the artificial-turf-covered Mulligan Field hold a very special place in my heart because they impact students every day,” Murphy says.

With all the good projects that lifted the student body, the toughest project Murphy had to deal with was the March 2006 fire that destroyed a three-quarters-built Kennedy Apartment complex. But in part because Murphy had fostered such endearing relationships with the construction industry in Spokane, contractors were able to rebuild the upper-division housing complex before school started in September 2007.

Looking back, Murphy sees the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center (2019) and Stevens Center for tennis and golf (2013) as the two easiest projects he worked on to date. “It’s much easier when a project is fully donor funded before we break ground, and both those projects were just that.”

Dreams to Believe In

The Spokane native and Gonzaga Prep alum has helped drive campus planning knowing that, “the toughest part is finding the resources to make it happen.”

“Every project we have undertaken began with a dream,” Murphy explains.

He remembers the McCarthey Athletic Center (2004), which was GU’s most expensive project at the time, getting a big boost from the McCarthey family, who settled on a donation amount for the lead gift over a ham sandwich in President Father Robert Spitzer’s office. Phil McCarthey would later say, tongue in cheek, “That was the most expensive ham sandwich I ever had.”

Murphy continues, “In the beginning, we had just enough money for the public spaces – the building structure, bleachers and the court. Money needed to be raised for locker rooms, training center, concession stands, banners to hang, scoreboards and many other things.” Murphy worked with Athletic Directors Mike Roth and Chris Standiford on fundraising, and on revenue-generating plans through ticket sales, media rights and special promotions to make it all come together.

“I look back on projects over the past 40 years, and those buildings and campus improvements still seem new to me. But Jepson Center (1984) is 42 years old. Foley Center (1992) is nearly 35 years old. And to me, no building has had a larger impact on student life and community building than the John J. Hemmingson Center,” Murphy says.

“It demonstrates President McCulloh’s genius in combining occupants in academics, food service, Mission and a full range of student life functions,” Murphy says. “A vibrant mix of activities gives the building its life. It has become the center of our campus. Historically, our largest undergraduate enrollments were achieved after Hemmingson opened in 2015. Eleven years later it is still a beautiful building.”

“We have always punched higher than our weight class,” Murphy smiles. “We are looking to the future and how we can continue to improve what we offer to our students and consider what benefactors might be interested in supporting.”

One of those possibilities is a Welcome Center where prospective students and their parents, alumni families and benefactors can gather for a unique Gonzaga experience. The master plan also includes additional student housing along the outside boundaries of the academic core of campus.

“When I think of all this university has accomplished, I see the efforts of so many.” Murphy says: “While some folks by the nature of their jobs are directly visible, I’ve always been happy to be one of those guys pulling the oar. I’m blessed to be a part of teams who have contributed so much to the lives of others.”

Assessing Murphy’s efforts over the years, alumnus Ed Taylor (’82), Gonzaga trustee emeritus, says, “I’ve been coming to Gonzaga for 40 years. The buildings are nicer and the city has grown up around campus – but the soul of Gonzaga remains unchanged. You feel it the moment you arrive: the Jesuit, Catholic mission quietly guiding everything, students brimming with curiosity and promise, faculty and staff devoted to shaping lives with care and integrity. Chuck is a big part of all that is good about Gonzaga.

“But yes, DeSmet Hall still looks like it could use a good updating. No change there.”