Mike Murphy spent a lot of time watching sports at Montville High School in the past, when his sons Mick and Dan excelled in soccer and wrestling. He’s about to watch a lot more sports at Montville, too.

Murphy was hired to coach the Montville’s boys’ lacrosse team, athletic director Phil Orbe announced Tuesday. Murphy last coached the Old Lyme boys from 2014-16, during which time they were 48-11 with two Shoreline Conference championships.

“To some degree, it’s familiar,” said Murphy, an Oakdale resident along with his wife Debra. “Of course, going to sporting events over the years, I’m familiar with the soccer program and the wrestling program. I’m looking forward to it now. I thought this was good. I learned about this. I thought it might be a good way for me to help continue to develop lacrosse here in town.”

Murphy replaces Brendan Cholewa, who was Montville’s inaugural head coach when the program made its varsity debut in 2014.

Murphy has also served as head men’s coach at St. Thomas More (1987-93), Mitchell College (2002-04) and Wheeler High School (2010-12).

“We are fortunate to be able to name Michael Murphy as our boys’ lacrosse head coach,” Orbe said in a press release. "Michael comes highly recommended from local college coaches and administrators. It is not often that you can bring in an experienced coach with the proven resume that Michael possesses. We are confident that Michael can build off the foundation that Brendan built.”

In 2016, Old Lyme was 16-3 with its second straight Shoreline title and earned the No. 2 ranking in the Class S state tournament. Murphy resigned prior to last season.

Now, using the burgeoning youth program in town, Murphy will try to continue what Cholewa started.

“The program’s a few years old, so it’s about bringing them to the next level. There’s a lot of potential, I feel, at Montville,” Murphy said. “The kids have a lot of enthusiasm. … I did miss coaching. It’ll be good to be back in the (Eastern Connecticut Conference).”

Murphy began his lacrosse career as a player, winning the 1970 state championship at Elmont Memorial High School on Long Island and back-to-back NJCAA championships at Nassau Community College in 1973-74. He went on to captain the team at Farileigh Dickinson which qualified for the NCAA Division II national tournament in 1976.

v.fulkerson@theday.com