Matt Funk and Brian Murphy are headed to Cretin-Derham Hall. 

Funk, the former St. Paul Academy head coach, will resume the same post behind the Raiders’ bench, with Murphy joining as an associate head coach and director of hockey operations. Longtime Raider co-head coach Charlie Basco will remain in his current position. 

Murphy spent five seasons as the head coach of the Minnetonka Bantam AA team, where he won back-to-back state championships in 2015 and 2016. Murphy spent last season as the head coach of the Totino-Grace varsity, guiding the Eagles to a 9-16-2 record.

Murphy is a Cretin-Derham Hall alumnus, who played three years of varsity hockey for the Raiders while earning all-conference honors in the process. 

Funk took St. Paul Academy to its first Class A state tournament appearance in 2016 and said that a collaboration between he and Murphy is not a new idea - at least not to them.  

“Brian and I have been talking about coaching together for a long, long time,” Funk said on Thursday morning. “I’d known (outgoing Cretin-Derham Hall head coach) Jimmy O’Neill for awhile,” Funk added. When the three of us connected, it just seemed like the right thing. (O’Neill) connected all of us.”

O’Neill has been a Raider hockey coach since the 1979-1980 season, and he won the program’s only MSHSL Class AA state title in 2006. While Funk and Murphy can (and do) chat about hockey for hours, O’Neill independently connected the two about the Raider job. 

“The great thing about (CDH) is that last year’s senior class had awesome leaders, and have passed that on the younger groups,” Funk said. 

Leading scorer Matt Gleason is slated to be back next year as a junior, as are talented forwards Grayson Milosch and Nick Davison, with defensive standout Danny Magnuson back on the blue line and George Maguire in goal. 

“This group is just hungry,” Funk said. “I think (we will) continue to preach what Coach O’Neill preached, and then build off some of our past experiences,” Funk continued, adding that coaches on staff with postseason success is a bonus.

The Raiders went 21-4-2 last season, falling to Wayzata in the Section 6AA semifinals. The Raiders have not advanced to the state tournament since 2009.