‘Asshole’ Mark Murphy Discusses Poignant Regret in Final Column

On and off the field, the Green Bay Packers were a success under outgoing team president and CEO Mark Murphy.

From 2007 through 2024, the Packers won 186 regular-season games, second-most in the NFL and a whopping 16 more than any other team in the NFC. The small-market team is on a superb financial footing, the Titletown District has been a boon to the area and he delivered the NFL Draft to Green Bay.

However, the team won only one Super Bowl – and none under the current duo of general manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur. That’s a “big regret,” Murphy said during the introduction of his final Murphy Takes 5 column at Packers.com.

However, he mentioned a “more personal, larger regret” involving his father, Hugh Murphy, from early in his tenure.

“After I was named President in 2007, we had two home playoff games,” Murphy wrote. “Given his football background and love of the game, I know my father would have loved to watch a game at Lambeau Field. He was all set to come to one of the playoff games, but we decided to wait until September and the next season when the weather would be better and it would be easier to travel.

“Sadly, Big Murph died of brain cancer in June and never made it to Lambeau Field. I now have another pearl of wisdom, though – ‘never pass up the opportunity to spend special time with family and friends.’”

With Murphy set to hand the leadership baton to Ed Policy, he said it was an “honor and a privilege to work for you,” the “the best fans in all professional sports.”

“I hope that I have left the Packers in better shape than when I started. I think the improvements we have made to Lambeau Field (South End Zone, concourse renovations, new football and administrative offices, and (opening in a few weeks) a new locker room for the team) have been enhancements that have not taken away from what makes Lambeau Field special,” Murphy said.

Murphy also said he’s proud of the team’s impact on the community, which was strengthened in part due to two stock sales that added more than 426,000 owners to the only publicly owned team in major U.S. sports.

One fan appreciated how Murphy used his column to answer tough questions, sometimes from “patently obnoxious fans.” Murphy went on to field two of those questions, one from a fan calling him an “asshole” for not acquiring Bengals star Trey Hendrickson and another questioning the team’s commitment to winning a Super Bowl after dumping Jaire Alexander and not acquiring Jalen Ramsey.

“I am serious about Super Bowl possibilities,” Murphy replied. “We have a young team (two years in a row, the youngest team in the League with two playoff appearances) that is well-coached and should make significant progress this year.”

In his final question of his final column as team president, Murphy was asked about his favorite moment with the team. Murphy said it was winning Super Bowl XLV, with hosting the draft “a close second” because of the “tremendous publicity” the community received.