Army Undersecretary Patrick Murphy’s office in the Pentagon now looks like any other room in the world’s largest office building.

The walls are bare; there are holes in the walls where plaques and pictures once hung. But even though Murphy is leaving, he still thinks the Army has work to do.

“The whole issue goes tooth to tail. We need to have more tooth and less tail. I think we’ve really developed these efficiencies. This past year we had the delayering, which I oversaw, of headquarters, we’ve had auditability, to make sure we know where our dollar is going. We are ahead of the other services there. I think the private public partnerships were second to none compared to the other services,” Murphy said during a Jan. 19 media roundtable.

The tooth part of the equation comes in with the soldiers and the equipment. Murphy said there are places where near peer competitors are beating the Army. Murphy wants the Army to keep the pedal to the metal on acquisition issues and investments in innovative technologies while caring for soldiers in the Army and after they leave.

“Hopefully the folks in Washington understand they can’t go back to sequestration. That was very painful for our Army and hopefully [Congress] learns from their mistakes,” Murphy said.

That becomes doubly important as the Army is considering ramping up its active duty numbers after Congress authorized an increase to 460,000 by the end of 2017.

Murphy seemed hopeful for a budget supplemental to pay for the troop bump.

While in office Murphy also oversaw the talent management aspects of the Army. The Army took criticism in the past for the way its personnel system forced talented soldiers out of its ranks by prioritizing combat experience over higher education or government experience.

Murphy said he is excited about the future Army force and put his faith in Gen. Wilson “Al” Shoffner, who is leading the Army’s Talent Management Task Force.

We “put on the first two-day summit last summer. We had 46 recommendations from that. I don’t have meetings or summits to have meetings or summits. I don’t waste my time,” Murphy said. “I think we have reached out more than in the past in bridging things like West Point and ROTC. When you think of West Point as the Athens and Sparta of America, the fact that that’s a top ten school … to open that up to the 900 schools we have ROTC in as well is important … it’s sending a message that when you’re an Army officer you’re not just physically fit and an incredible athlete, but you’re also academically superior.”

Murphy wouldn’t make any recommendations for the future, especially on the matter of Congress changing the “up or out” system, but he did support an open dialogue.

“You always have to look and you always have to be better as an institution every single day. If you’re stagnant you’re losing. We worked great with Congress this past year and I think we’ve made some real gains when it comes to obviously women in service and tackling sexual assault,” Murphy said.

As for the future, Murphy is going back to his home state of Pennsylvania, where next week he’ll be coaching his son Jack’s hockey team as they play the Dyna-Mite’s Orange.

Murphy, who is a former U.S. representative, said he currently has no plans to run for public office.

“I’m going home,” Murphy said.

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