• Murphy enters his third season at Memphis and, over the last
two seasons, has helped the Tigers continue their streak of
consecutive 20-win seasons, which has now reached 11 years.
• From 2006-09, Murphy worked with the Denver Nuggets as a
trusted sidekick to George Karl.
• Prior to his time in the NBA, Murphy spent eight years (1998-2006) in Tucson with Hall of Famer, Lute Olsen, during which time the Wildcats made eight-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a showing in the national title game in 2001.
Diary Series: Jack Murphy, Asst. Coach - Memphis
The season is upon us and we have one game in the books and many
more on the horizon.
As an assistant coach, usually this time of year does not lend
itself to reflection. Time is not always on our side, but this past
offseason was unlike any other.
Our season ended last March with a close loss to Arizona in the
NCAA Tournament. After that game, two very important people
departed our staff in Willis Wilson (now head coach at Texas
A&M CC) and Glynn Cyprien (Associate Head Coach at Texas
A&M). Both of these men helped our program sustain the
success that the Memphis fan base has come to expect. Their
knowledge and experience has been instrumental in my personal
development as a coach and I thank them for that. After Willis and
Cyp's departure, Coach Pastner was left with a skeleton staff, but
to his credit he did not rush into any decisions and showed a
tremendous amount of faith in those of us who remained.
I tell people all of the time that the best thing about Coach P is
the freedom he gives his staff. He allows us to coach and
work in an environment that fits each individual. Just
because he only sleeps a few hours a night, he doesn't expect
everyone to follow suit. His only expectation is that each person
does his/her job. I tend to think that this process came from
Coach Olson, who both Coach Pastner and I worked for at Arizona.
But, it is one thing to be secure enough in your staff when you are
a Hall of famer and another when you are a young 34-year-old head
coach. Josh has been fantastic in carrying on Coach Olson's
legacy for teaching, caring and allowing those on his staff to do
their job with freedom and security.
Needless to say with such a great head coach, a young and promising
team and the Memphis fan base, these were two very attractive
assistant coach openings. I know it was a difficult few
months for Coach P, but in the end, we have a staff of Damon
Stoudamire (who also played for Coach Olson at Arizona) and, for
the time being, Luke Walton (another Wildcat). Both of these
men have been friends and supporters of Coach Pastner for a long
time and they understand the philosophy that Coach Pastner has
instituted here at Memphis. They have been wonderful
additions to the staff and have helped a great deal in recruiting
and coaching.
Additionally, speaking about recruiting, I also must mention our
Operations Assistant Matt Dunn, who was a road warrior for us this
summer on the recruiting trail. Due to being down one coach
in July, we bumped Matt up, and he was great at switching gears at
the last moment so we could maximize the places Memphis was this
July. Matt does a great job all year long, but for the month
of July he was above and beyond.
Of course, now I feel bad speaking about Matt without discussing
all of our great support staff members. These are the young
men and women that are behind the scenes, but are always keeping
our engine running. It would take too long to name them all
here, but they must know how much they are appreciated for the jobs
that they do on a day-in, day-out basis.
Now on to the games... we have played two exhibition games and one
regular season thus far, but I feel as though we have been going at
it for months already. The Belmont game (our season opener)
was part of ESPN's 24 college hoops marathon, and afterwards, I
felt as though I had played. We have known what a great team
Belmont is for some time now and that point was hammered home when
they lost at Duke by a single point four days prior to our
game. Coach Byrd does a great job with his team, and they are
disciplined, skilled and tough. Fortunately for us, our guys came
to play right from the tip. The final margin ended up being
97-81, but that was not indicative of the type of game it
was. Belmont did not give in at any point and kept fighting
until the final buzzer. When you play a team that is well coached,
hungry and skilled, that can be a recipe for disaster. Lucky
for us, our guys rose to the challenge and showed a grit and
determination that sometimes was lacking last year.
We are proud to have the group of guys we have and know that the
road ahead is long, but are looking forward to meeting those
challenges as they come. Thanks for reading and til' next time
enjoy the ride and GO TIGERS!
Next stop Maui...
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