Ryan Murphy says families of Dahmer victims didn’t respond to his team’s inquiries
By Alex Hiderman and Rachel Weiner
The former University of Michigan basketball coach and notorious serial killer has told former students and others he believes their families failed to meet his team’s needs.
In an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, Murphy discussed how he has used the families’ ignorance as “a tool” to help his team win a National Championship.
“I believe they were negligent in part because they didn’t want to know the reality,” he said. “They didn’t want to know the truth. They didn’t want to know the truth of what our team was up against. That’s why they would call my mom and dad when they weren’t being invited on the team or they would sit on the sidelines and not do anything.”
Murphy, who went on stage with Williams to tell the story of his journey as a serial killer, also compared the athletes who have come forward with their abuse stories to the victims he was responsible for killing.
Earlier this week, a former basketball student told The New York Times the coach invited her to his home where he said he abused her. The student was 15 at the time. The university’s investigation found no wrongdoing on the coach’s part, but a review of all of the student’s social media shows his behavior didn’t sit well with the young woman.
Murphy said he did invite others on the team to his house and he said he also did invite them to parties he threw. The University of Michigan found the coach’s behavior was inappropriate and he was censured by the school after his team went undefeated in the 2007–08 season but lost in the National Championship.
Murphy is a father of four who has coached women’s softball and men’s soccer at the University of Michigan since 2006.
The former coach says he had a good relationship with some of the recruits on his team and he says he was aware of their behavior. He also didn’t deny that some of the players were sexual predators, but Murphy