WASHINGTON — Some things make so much sense, you start to wonder why they take so long to happen. Take Luke Murray, as Boston College did, to be their new head coach in men’s basketball. Could they have made a better, more exciting hire?
What took so long? What could go wrong? Could BC have let old grudges, petty grievances get in the way and decide they couldn’t hire an assistant … from, gasp, UConn? Could they delude themselves into thinking this is a more attractive job than it is and insist on chasing a big-time, experienced head coach, even if it meant hiring a retread?
Could Murray hesitate, maybe make unreasonable demands in getting the resources he will need to succeed?
Even some of the hardest-to-please Boston College alum, and I know some, are lighting up a victory cigar, sipping Johnnie Walker’s best stuff and probably binge-watching “Stripes,” “Caddyshack” and “Meatballs” as we speak, because the reservations melted away and Murray is leaving UConn to take the BC challenge head on. He will be the Eagles’ “big toe” … if you know, you know.
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Dan Hurley, whose loss is the Eagles’ gain, was exultant on social media after the news broke. “BC is Back!,” he posted. “This guy is the best. Will miss him greatly but so proud and happy for him. Long overdue opportunity. Good Bye Champ!!” Sources confirmed on Friday that Murray will stay with the Huskies for the duration of this tournament run.
Before the news was official, when it was reported only that Murray had been offered the job, Hurley threw up a note of caution, looking out for his guys, hoping to insure the right questions were being asked.
“I don’t think it’s just NIL,” Hurley said. “Am I going to be able to hire an excellent staff around me? Am I going to be playing high-major games? Am I going to be on a Southwest flight C38 with my 7-foot center the next day as opposed to being on a charter?’ If you’re not all in on a full commitment, you can’t win. That goes for mid-majors, too. You got to have one of the best jobs in your league, if possible. If you’re going to take a job that’s not at the top of the league, you better get assurances in your contract that you’re going to have this much to spend on a roster, this much for staff and that you’re going to charter every flight, nutrition, practice facility.
“You have to have everything in place. If you shortcut anything in today’s college basketball, you try to get by on nostalgia, you’ve got no shot.”
Nostalgia is not something Murray can lean on. Boston College was a New England player back in the day, and a contender in the original Big East. Since jumping to the ACC, the school has been overmatched in men’s basketball. They’ve never been to a Final Four, have not reached the Sweet 16 since 2006 nor played in the NCAA Tournament at all since 2009. It has been questioned whether the school has the will to commit resources to winning in basketball, or to the flexibility in admissions to compete in the ACC. But when all the give and take ends, it always comes down to this: Things need to be fixed, otherwise the job wouldn’t be open.
So Murray would have been wise to ask all these questions, but he was also wise to accept the challenge whatever the answers because one only gets so many chances to prove they can be a head coach at this level. Keep in mind, coaching legends from Vince Lombardi to Jim Calhoun are made by those who go and coach where it is most fashionable to say winning is impossible. After coaching with Dan Hurley, winning two championships at UConn, which was back in the Sweet 16 to play Michigan State Friday night, Murray knows exactly what it takes to win in the 2020s. This knowledge, alone, will give him a fighting chance to win at Boston College.
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Maybe BC cares more about football or hockey, as is the perception, but it wouldn’t take long to change that if Murray, with his widely acclaimed offensive mind, produces wins and exciting basketball. Maybe the ACC was stacked when old Big East schools started migrating there, but the conference is now ripe for someone to make a big move up the standings. It is fashionable now, too, to say some of the coaching jobs that are opening, even North Carolina or NC State, are not as attractive as they once would have been.
But a coaching job is what the new coach makes of it, or have you forgotten the fable of the worst football program in all the land plucking Jim Mora out of involuntary retirement?
Murray, son of the famous, brilliant comedic actor, Bill Murray, learned the game from the ground up, coached AAU ball during his freshman year at Fairfield, to become a coaching rock star at age 40. He coached with Hurley at Wagner, Rhode Island and UConn, worked with Tom Moore at Quinnipiac. From a young age, he was a gym rat, with a passion for talent evaluation, rather than just playing, and many great coaches have started that way.
When he left Louisville and rejoined Hurley in 2021, with UConn on an upswing, things shifted into high gear, though Murray has had an aversion to grabbing credit or taking bows, an appealing quality. In 2022 and ’23, UConn had the players to make things work and the offense in which Murray played a large part in developing became state of the sport, producing championships in 2022-23.
Murray and Hurley allowed me to visit their war room in 2024 to explain, to the degree they felt comfortable sharing, the ways they dissect plays from the NBA, Europe and all over the world and incorporate it into what they do. Maybe they lost me somewhere in Luxembourg, but the gist is a virtually limitless catalog of plays, variations and wrinkles that. Then finding the players who can execute them has made UConn the sport’s most formidable force. Murray’s rep in the game will attract some of those type players to Chestnut Hill.
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Hurley, a basketball lifer, will carry on, and his track record indicates he will find an effective replacement, but BC essentially hired the offensive coordinator off a multiple Super Bowl champ. The head coach’s chair is different, and Murray will need time to find his voice in that role, but hold onto your money. Don’t bet against him. This is a potential NBA coach, in my mind. He has the demeanor for that league and the one thing that matters most in getting pro players’ respect. He knows his X’s and O’s at a high level; he’s got the right training. “Chaaaampionship training, Sir.”
So Boston College got a heck of a coach, UConn lost a key contributor to its recent championships. As Murray remained in D.C. Thursday night, he was also in charge of scouting and preparation for a potential matchup with Duke in the East Regional final if the Huskies get there. A wildly successful partnership has broken up in Connecticut, but no one should be sad it’s over, just glad it happened.
