Boston College has hired top UConn assistant Luke Murray as its next men’s basketball coach. Murray, the son of legendary actor and comedian Bill Murray, has been an integral member of Hurley’s staff with the Huskies since 2021, a span featuring two NCAA Tournament national championships. Murray was the top candidate for the job, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports.
Murray’s immediate goal will be leading the program back to the NCAA Tournament following disappointing tenure from the last regime. The Eagles fired Earl Grant earlier this month after five seasons and a 72-92 overall record, including four years below .500.
Sources told Norlander that Murray was Boston College’s top candidate. The 40-year-old Murray took his time this week before making a final decision, but ultimately the opportunity to work at the power-conference level now was an opportunity he had to chase. Murray worked five seasons at mid-majors before joining Xavier’s staff in 2015 and working later at Louisville. This stint with UConn was his third coaching position at a program led by Hurley.
Hurley considers Murray to be his offensive coordinator with the Huskies, an intricate system of pick-and-pops and high rolls that has led to great success in recent years for the dominant Big East program. The two of them help devise some of the most sophisticated schemes in college basketball in recent years, and that alchemy was instrumental in UConn winning back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024.
In addition to being a whip-smart tactician, Murray was also the lead recruiter on a number of UConn’s most important players over the past half-decade, including Alex Karaban, Solo Ball, Cam Spencer, Liam McNeeley and Braylon Mullins.
Hurley was asked this week about Murray and fellow UConn assistant Kimani Young and what they’ll need as future head coaches in the sport.
“Yeah, I mean I don’t think it’s just NIL. Whether it’s Kimani or Luke or any coach right now,” Hurley said. “Am I able to hire an excellent staff around me? Am I going to be — I’m playing high-major games. Am I going to be on a Southwest flight C38 with my seven-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-major, too. You got to have one of best jobs in your league, if possible. If you’re going to take a job that’s not at the top of your league, you better get assurance in your contract that you’re going to get this much to spend on a roster, this much for staff that you’re going to charter every flight and nutrition and a 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.”
Hurley has routinely advocated for Murray and said ahead of UConn’s Sweet 16 appearance this week the pair had been transparent with each other given the timing of interviews and college basketball’s coaching carousel.
“We don’t hold anyone back here,” Hurley said this week. “I want them to get a job; look at what they’ve helped us do here. … I’m not afraid to lose people, I don’t hire ‘yes’ men, I hire talented people. I want those guys to get jobs, and I want those guys to get jobs where they have a chance to win. They’re compensated well enough here and we love working together, so it doesn’t make them fidgety or panicky.”
