From Here to Retirement--7 Games : Titan football: Coaches and players are trying to focus on the rest of the season. Gene Murphy will retire at its end.

The phone started ringing in Gene Murphy’s home at 5 a.m. Friday and didn’t stop when the Cal State Fullerton football coach got into his office Friday morning.

Friends, from both in and out of the coaching profession, were calling about Murphy’s Thursday night announcement that he would retire at the end of the season, but it wasn’t like they were offering condolences.

“That was Mike Heimerdinger, a former assistant who’s now at Rice,” Murphy said as he hung up the phone. “He called to say congratulations.”

Bill Huffman, campus police chief, dropped by the office.

“I heard the news on the radio this morning,” Huffman told Murphy. “Well, congratulations.”

Those who know Murphy know there will be no mourning in the Titan Football House this season. After more than 12 years at the school, many of which were spent fighting uphill battles against budget restraints and uncertainty about the program’s future, Murphy was ready to leave.

And friends were glad that he was finally ridding himself of the frustrations that have overwhelmed him in recent years.

“Everybody who knows me well knows the situation here,” Murphy said. “I feel like I stayed too long at the ball. I hung around, and there was no one there to dance with.”

But the music hasn’t quite stopped. The Titans still have seven games to play this season, including tonight’s dances with wolves, the Big West Conference opener against the heavily favored Nevada Wolf Pack.

Murphy insists he will not be a lame-duck coach, that he will approach every game and practice as if nothing has changed. But things have changed, no matter what Murphy says, and the challenge for Murphy and his assistants will be motivating themselves to work for a school they know they will most likely not be at next season.

“I don’t think it will be hard because coaching football is a profession, and if you’re any good, you have pride in what you do,” offensive line coach Bill Dobson said. “Pure respect is what you crave the most, and as a coach, you want your kids to play well and play hard.

“If we approach it as a lame-duck situation and act indifferent, it will be reflected in our performance, and that’s not fair to to the kids. We’re not going to quit on them.”

Don Johnson, another Titan line coach, said Murphy’s retirement is just another of the many distractions Fullerton will have to contend with.

“We have to take the attitude we’re 0-0, we’re starting a new season and can win,” Johnson said. “It would be a fitting to send the old guy off with a conference title.”

Fitting, but extremely difficult, as the Titans should find out tonight. Fullerton will have a tough time slowing a Wolf Pack passing attack that is led by quarterback Chris Vargas, who completed 43 of 75 passes for 466 yards Sept. 19 during a 31-21 victory over McNeese State “Any time you can put a Fred Gatlin on the bench, the guy ahead of him must be pretty good,” Murphy said. All Gatlin has done in the previous three seasons at Nevada is complete 516 of 937 passes for 7,078 yards and 53 touchdowns.

The Wolf Pack also has a solid receiving corps, led by Bryan Reeves (27 catches, 302 yards) and Tom Matter (20 catches, 199 yards).

Compounding Fullerton’s problems is a secondary that has been decimated by injury and illness. Cornerback B.B. Hudson, who missed last week’s game because of an ankle injury, spent two days in the hospital this week because of tonsillitis and is doubtful for the game.

Hudson’s backup, walk-on Carl Markray, injured his ankle in practice Wednesday and won’t play tonight. Murphy said backup quarterback Quincy Guy, who signed with Fullerton as a defensive back, could start at cornerback.

With Nevada’s leading rusher, Zeke Moore, out because of a broken hand and the Titan secondary showing signs of vulnerability, you can bet Vargas & Co. will look to fly the friendly skies tonight.

“It’s going to be Air-Cal,” Murphy said.

Titan Notes

The series record between Nevada and Fullerton is 5-5, but the road team has won eight of the 10 games. . . . The Titans lead the Big West in rushing, averaging 182.8 yards a game; the Wolf Pack leads the conference in rushing defense, allowing an average of 121.3 yards a game.