Men's Basketball 2/18/2020 Murphy Led Men’s Hoops for Six Seasons

CARROLLTON, Ga. – Ed Murphy, who served as head coach of the Ole Miss men's basketball team for six seasons, passed away Sunday (Feb. 16) at the age of 78 due to declining health. 

Murphy compiled a 76-98 record during his time as the Rebels' head coach (1987-92), leading Ole Miss to a pair of NIT appearances. He was the first coach in Ole Miss basketball history to take two of his first three teams to a postseason tournament. His 1986-87 squad and the 1988-89 team both participated in the NIT. Later, Rod Barnes took his first four teams to tournament play and Andy Kennedy took his first two teams.
 
Murphy's first team went 15-14, at the time, the best record by an Ole Miss head coach since Homer Hazel's first team (1925-26) finished 16-12. During his tenure, Murphy coached Ole Miss greats Rod Barnes, Gerald Glass and Joe Harvell. Along with earning All-SEC accolades, Barnes and Glass were named All-America honorable mention. Glass became the first Rebel ever drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1990. Meanwhile, Barnes followed Murphy's footsteps and became a head coach, including a return to coach Ole Miss (1999-2006). Murphy coached Harvell all four seasons of his collegiate career. Harvell became an All-SEC player and ended his career ranked second on the Ole Miss all-time scoring list with 2,078 points (18th in SEC history).
 
Murphy coached one of the most memorable games in Ole Miss basketball history (March 4, 1989). The Rebels defeated LSU 113-112 in overtime in perhaps the greatest one-on-one duel in Southeastern Conference history. LSU's Chris Jackson tallied 55 points, while Gerald Glass put up 53 for the Rebels. The 108 combined points is the most by two players in an SEC game. More importantly, Glass led Ole Miss to victory in dramatic fashion. LSU led 110-107, and Glass had been pestered by four different Tiger defenders to make him exhausted. But with a final surge, Glass tipped in a rebound to narrow the margin to one point, hit a 3-pointer to tie the score and drained the free throw with nine seconds left that gave Ole Miss the victory in the regular-season finale.
 
Following his time in Oxford, Murphy served as a basketball television analyst for Jefferson Pilot for one year before heading West Georgia to become the school's head men's basketball coach and athletic director. He spent 14 years as West Georgia's basketball coach, while serving 15 years as athletic director.
 
Murphy married the former Shelly Hargis of Carlsbad, New Mexico. They had three children: Laurie, Sean and Bryan. Laurie was a computer instructor at Ole Miss, and Sean was a center for the Ole Miss basketball team (1988-91).

Services for Murphy will be conducted Monday, Feb. 24 at 10:30 a.m. from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Carrollton, Georgia.  The wake will be Sunday afternoon (Feb. 23) from 2-5 p.m. at the Irish Bred Pub in downtown Carrollton.

SOURCE: Ole Miss Staff. "Former Ole Miss Hoops Coach Ed Murphy Passes Away." OleMissSports.com, 18 February 2020, https://olemisssports.com/news/2020/2/18/mens-basketball-former-ole-miss-hoops-coach-ed-murphy-passes-away.aspx