On April 21st Rob Murphy was hired as the new head coach of the Eastern Michigan University’s men’s basketball team, and he plans to bring the qualities of “Leadership. Commitment. Dedication. Loyalty.” to the university.
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Murphy graduated from Detroit Mumford High School in 1991. At Mumford, he lettered in both basketball and football, while also also earning All-State honors in football.
He spent his college career in Wilberforce, Ohio where he was a two-year starter for the basketball team of Central State University. As a senior, he earned the team’s Defensive Player of the Year award before graduating in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Education.
Murphy was then the assistant coach at Syracuse University for seven years before joining the ranks at EMU. But his coaching career began in the Detroit Public School League where he spent six years.
Three of those years were spent at Detroit Crockett Technical High School as the boy’s head basketball coach. Murphy led the team to the Class B State Championship in the 2000-2001 season.
After Crockett, Murphy joined the staff at Kent State University for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. In those two years, the Golden Flashes turned in back-to-back 22-9 seasons along with two Mid-American Conference East Division championships. Each squad was also invited to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
Murphy then teamed up with head coach Jim Boeheim at SU as an assistant coach for its men’s basketball team. In the seven years he was there, Murphy and the orange posted an 180-67 winning record, playing in the post season each year and making five NCAA Tournament trips along with two NIT appearances.
Now, it’s back to the MAC for Murphy as he has been chosen to hold the ranks for this EMU men’s squad. For Murphy, moving back home and a window of great opportunities led him to the green and white.
“I’m a native of Detroit, Michigan and when the job opened up I thought it’d be a great opportunity,” Murphy said. “With all of the knowledge I acquired at Syracuse and with the support I’d be getting here, I felt it was the perfect fit.”
Murphy is inheriting a team full of experienced talent, as four of the 12 players will be seniors and seven will be juniors in the coming 2011-2012 season. But they are a team with a blurry past.
In the last two years the team has posted an overall record of 26-37 (17-15 in 2009-10 and 9-22 in 2010-11). They made an appearance in the second-round of the MAC Tournament in the 2009-10 season but dropped their first-round match against Akron 53-67 this past season. As Murphy takes on this team, he is looking to change the atmosphere at the Convocation Center.
“First, I’d like to change the culture of the program as a whole,” Murphy said. “Make the guys believe in themselves, in myself as their coach, as well as pushing them towards academic success while making them believe that they can win.”
If there was one player Murphy could have brought with him to help make those changes he would put NBA superstar LeBron James in his suitcase.
“He’s a great player and person,” Murphy said. “He has a winning mentality and he’s a program changer.”
Since James is not a likely candidate for the EMU squad, Murphy will be looking to himself and his staff to bring about this change.
“I consider myself the hardest worker,” Murphy said. “If everyone could work as hard as I myself we will be winning championships.”
