Boston College Hires Luke Murray To Be Next Men’s Basketball Coach
BY Nick Petralia
Boston College has hired Luke Murray as its head men’s basketball coach. Murray had been an assistant coach at UConn since 2021 under Dan Hurley and helped the team win two national championships. BC will be Murray’s first head coaching job.
Before UConn, Murray coached at Wagner and Rhode Island with Hurley in the early 2010s, and at Xavier and Louisville under Chris Mack in the latter half of the decade. The son of comedy legend and Ghostbuster Bill Murray, Luke is credited with being the mastermind behind the current Husky offense.
“[Murray’s] offense is something else. He’s a real special, special coach,” said Donovan Clingan, a former national champion at UConn with Murray and current center for the Portland Trailblazers. “He understands the basketball game at a high level, and he’s very good at putting all of us in the best positions possible to succeed at a high level.”
Murray has been a top coaching candidate for the past few offseasons, along with other UConn assistants including Kimani Young. It seemed almost inevitable that Murray would get the opportunity to lead his own program.
“Luke and Kimani [Young], those two guys, they’re head-coach quality,” Dan Hurley said in April 2024. “They’re high-major-level head-coach quality. Those two guys have no holes in their game at all. They’re highest level recruiters, great player development, great with tactics, understand the branding piece, and are great motivators.”
While Young has yet to have a school lure him away from Storrs, Murray will work to rebuild a BC program that has had only two winning seasons in the last 15 years and is looking for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2009.
“Luke Murray is a superstar,” said Chris Mack when Murray left Louisville. “No detail goes unnoticed with Luke. Whether it’s working with our perimeter players, scouting, or recruiting, Luke excels. He’s one of the most organized, detailed, and high-energy recruiters that I’ve ever been around.”
While Murray’s work ethic could be the reason he brings the Eagles back to prominence, a lack of financial support from the administration could hinder him. BC has become notorious in college basketball circles for being one of the cheapest power-conference programs when it comes to roster building.
According to Sports Illustrated, “The issue with Boston College[‘s coaching search] is it has presented to candidates what is believed to be the lowest overall roster budget pool (NIL plus revenue sharing) of any power-conference job.”
Murray will certainly be fighting an uphill battle in Chestnut Hill, but him accepting the job after being part of major coaching discussions for the last few seasons suggests he believes he can get the job done at BC. Why shouldn’t Eagles fans feel the same way?