From southern California to Duke University to FC Cincinnati, one of the Rapids’ newest additions, Ian Murphy, is prepared for his next step in his professional journey with the Rapids. Joined by former FC Cincinnati teammate Chidozie Awaziem as an offseason acquisition, the 25-year-old is primed to bolster Colorado’s backline in 2025 and beyond.
He began playing at age five, when one his best friends, whose family is Italian, got him into the game. What started out as a way to hang out became more serious as the next couple years went by, and Murphy ended up dropping basketball and baseball to funnel his energies into soccer full-time.
He quickly advanced in the sport, playing with a competitive club and earning call-ups into national scouting camps. Through it all, his mother, a school principal, would rush home to drive him to practice 45 minutes away, doing her work in the car while she waited for her son to finish training, then do it all again the next day.
By sophomore year he had his first offer to play in college, at Duke University—almost 2,500 miles from home. He accepted, but nearly got cold feet towards the end of high school knowing he could switch to a school closer to home like UCLA. His mom wasn’t going to let that comfortability slide, and Murphy stuck to Duke.
The only child of a school principal mother and psychiatrist father, Murphy was primed with high standards, no matter what he chose to pursue. As his college career was winding down and he was prepared to graduate, a political science major and psychology minor weren’t exactly terrible degrees to fall back on if a career on the pitch didn’t work out.
The defender’s career path could have taken a strong left turn before he even stepped foot on the professional pitch.
“[At Duke] I was starting and everything, but I didn't think that I was good enough to get drafted,” he said. “I was just going to try and use a fifth year of soccer at a good school and get like a good job after and so I was applying. I was enrolled in Portland; they had an internship at Nike set up. But then I ended up getting drafted.”
The 25-year-old's demeanor is quiet, more reserved than some of his new teammates, moving with a fly-on-the-wall disposition when he’s not on the field. Once he’s between the white lines, though, you can see the focus sharpening.
That focus guided Murphy to being a regular starter at Duke—scoring three goals and delivering 8 assists—leading to a 14th-overall pick in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft. He then made 105 appearances with FC Cincinnati over three seasons and celebrated a Supporters’ Shield-winning season in 2023.
“I think it was just a great experience to be able to play in so many games for them, so many playoff games and meaningful games like that,” he said of his time in Cincinnati. "
I feel like I'm able to bring a lot of experience here, and I'm happy about that.”
Now, he’s integrating with his new squad in preseason and adjusting to the leadership of Head Coach Chris Armas, whose high-energy and personable approach he relates to a coach he had in high school, one he still keeps in touch with as his career progresses.
“I had really good relationships with them,” he said. “That kind of thing you miss because it becomes formal, like you just show up and they tell you what to do. But with this, it’s more like you can enjoy what you do.”
Murphy’s goal for the season is something that one can already see taking shape in preseason:
“Just a super close team that had a great season and went further than we did last year, and hopefully we win it all.”
