Daryl Murphy's 300th career win was a little easier than expected last Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium when the Murphysboro Red Devils played host to the Harrisburg Bulldogs in an important SIRR Ohio Division showdown.
The expected showdown never materialized, though, as the Red Devils ran out to an early lead and cruised to a 66-43 victory over the visitors from Saline County.
The win was Murphy's 256th at Murphysboro. He had 44 victories at Century before coming to Murphysboro. He is currently in the middle of his 16th season as a head coach, and has the most career boys basketball coaching wins at MHS.
When reached by phone on Wednesday, Murphy said the fact that he hit 300 career wins still hadn't set in.
"It really hasn't yet," he said. "There's so much more going on right now that I haven't even really thought about it.
"Right now, we're trying to stay on a roll, win the conference, and get better."
Winning the conference is the most important thing at the moment, and beating Harrisburg gave the Red Devils a two-game lead in the standings.
"Beating Harrisburg and getting that two-game lead was a bigger moment for me,'' Murphy said. "300 is a great number, but it hasn't been that big of a deal for me."
Murphy said becoming the all-time wins leader was a bigger thrill.
"That is something someone is going to have to break,'' he said. "For me, it was a huge thrill when I became the winningest coach in school history."
Murphy said that he plans to coach for at least six more years. So he could end up with over 400 or more wins when all is said and done.
"I want to coach for at least six more years and, hopefully, that would put me over 400,'' Murphy said. "The thing I look at is that as a basketball team you want to win 20 games a year. That is about what we're averaging, so I guess I can look at it that way. But that two game-lead in the conference... That meant more to me than that 300th win."
|
|
|
Daryl Murphy's 300th career win was a little easier than expected last Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium when the Murphysboro Red Devils played host to the Harrisburg Bulldogs in an important SIRR Ohio Division showdown.
The expected showdown never materialized, though, as the Red Devils ran out to an early lead and cruised to a 66-43 victory over the visitors from Saline County.
The win was Murphy's 256th at Murphysboro. He had 44 victories at Century before coming to Murphysboro. He is currently in the middle of his 16th season as a head coach, and has the most career boys basketball coaching wins at MHS.
When reached by phone on Wednesday, Murphy said the fact that he hit 300 career wins still hadn't set in.
"It really hasn't yet," he said. "There's so much more going on right now that I haven't even really thought about it.
"Right now, we're trying to stay on a roll, win the conference, and get better."
Winning the conference is the most important thing at the moment, and beating Harrisburg gave the Red Devils a two-game lead in the standings.
"Beating Harrisburg and getting that two-game lead was a bigger moment for me,'' Murphy said. "300 is a great number, but it hasn't been that big of a deal for me."
Murphy said becoming the all-time wins leader was a bigger thrill.
"That is something someone is going to have to break,'' he said. "For me, it was a huge thrill when I became the winningest coach in school history."
Murphy said that he plans to coach for at least six more years. So he could end up with over 400 or more wins when all is said and done.
"I want to coach for at least six more years and, hopefully, that would put me over 400,'' Murphy said. "The thing I look at is that as a basketball team you want to win 20 games a year. That is about what we're averaging, so I guess I can look at it that way. But that two game-lead in the conference... That meant more to me than that 300th win."
