LAKE WALES, Fla. – Warner University has hired Matt Murphy as the new leader of the Women’s Basketball program, Director of Athletics Shawn Gary announced today, April 8. Murphy spent the past two seasons as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach of Cascade College (Ore.), an Oklahoma Christian University Branch Campus and this school year as the Athletics Director.
“Matt has a proven record of success both on and off the court,” said Gary. “I believe Matt’s love for the Lord and basketball will build a quality program that will leave a lasting imprint.”
At Cascade, Murphy quickly turned around the school’s losing ways as he tripled the win total of the previous season in his first season at the helm. Prior to his arrival, the program only won 17 games combined in the four seasons before taking over as the head coach. In his short time at Cascade, Murphy established some program firsts for Cascade, including leading the team to the Cascade Collegiate Conference semifinals for the first time in school history and upsetting the #1 seed Eastern Oregon University in the conference tournament to advance to the semifinals. Their upset over Eastern Oregon was the first time in the conference’s history that the #1 seed lost in the quarterfinals.
In October 2008, Cascade announced the school would be closing at the end of the school year, however that did not deter Murphy and his team from earning a ranking as high as #14 in the nation on the Victory Sports Network Women’s Division II poll this season. He leaves Cascade as the all-time wins leader.
Murphy demanded success from his team off the court as well as his team improved their GPA by 0.34, consisted of the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Student-Athlete of the Year and two NAIA Academic All-Americans. He also improved their community service programs from non-existent to running free clinics, city cleaning, maintenance projects, reading in high-risk elementary schools and feeding the homeless.
As Athletics Director, Murphy maintained the department and improved athletic revenue despite the announcement of the school’s closure. He also implemented a fundraising drive that saw donations and sponsorships increase. He also implemented a student-athlete support program that matched up those in the general student body with athletes needing academic support.
Murphy served as the Head Varsity Women’s Basketball Coach for North Valleys High School in Reno, Nevada for six seasons (2001-07) before taking over at Cascade. He started the program there and eventually led them to becoming one of the powerhouse programs in the state’s 4A Division, the largest division in Nevada. During his time there, he led the team to the Northern Nevada Final Four on his way to earning Coach of the Year honors the same year.
Murphy has a knack for starting teams; in his first collegiate head-coaching job as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach of Golden West College (Calif.), he recruited a program that did not field a team the season before his arrival. In only his second season his team qualified for the regional playoffs and in his third season he won 17 games, the most wins for the program since 1994. Murphy began his coaching career in 1992 as a head coach at Marumoto Sports Training where he coached club and AAU teams.
A 1997 graduate of California State University, Long Beach with a degree in physical education, Murphy earned his masters degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific University in 1999. Murphy is married to Karen Murphy and they have two children, Lucas (6) and Sarah (4).
"I am honored to be named the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Warner University,” said Murphy. “This is the perfect fit for my family and me, a faith based institution that understands the value of both academics and athletics. I will always be grateful to Cascade College and its people, but I look forward to what the future holds at Warner University."
Coach Murphy will be on campus next week April 16-20. This time will be used for evaluating the program. All those interested should contact Coach Murphy at Matt.Murphy@cascade.oc.edu for more details.