Jim Manzo

Luke Murray coached his first game as a head coach tonight, and his dad, Bill Murray, was in the stands at Boston College to watch it. It took him 18 years and nine different schools to get there. And he has said his famous father never once made a phone call to help. Here is the whole thing. Luke grew up around New York City playing basketball, football and baseball. As a high school senior, he started coaching an AAU team, and he was hooked. He graduated from Fairfield University. About two weeks later, he took a job running basketball operations at Quinnipiac. Then came the long road. Post University. Arizona, as a graduate assistant. Wagner. Towson. Rhode Island. Xavier. Louisville. Then UConn, under Dan Hurley, where he helped win back to back national championships. Through all of it, there was one rule. "There has never been a moment when my dad has picked up a phone" And Luke wanted it that way. "I would never want him to." He said his dad taught him that growing up. "He instilled in us a desire to achieve on our own." So he did. One small job at a time, for 18 years. He once put it perfectly. "Certainly, nobody thinks about Bill Murray as I'm trying to put together a scouting report." Bill Murray never got in the way. He just showed up. He was a regular at UConn games, cheering from the stands like any other parent. Basketball was always their thing. Luke has said his favorite sports memory with his dad was watching Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls win a championship together. This spring, Boston College finally gave Luke his own program. He took the job in the middle of UConn's tournament run, scouting opponents for the Huskies while hiring a staff and moving his family to Boston. He called it the week of a lifetime. Tonight, his first game as a head coach was against Wagner, one of the schools where he worked as an assistant, on Hurley's staff. Boston College won 76 to 50. Money Williams scored 22 points, and the Eagles made 49% of their field goals. And up in the crowd, wearing a maroon Boston College hat, was one of the most famous actors in the world, just being a proud dad. Here is the honest part. This is one win, at home, against a smaller program. Boston College has not made the NCAA Tournament in 17 years, and it has finished near the bottom of the ACC for a long time. The hard part is still ahead. But Luke Murray did not get here because of his last name. He got here by grinding through nine schools and 18 years, without leaning on his dad's name. And tonight, his dad got to watch the payoff. #collegebasketball #billmurray #wearebc #bostoncollege #cbb