He’ll be on the sidelines Friday night in Washington, D.C., when two-seed UConn takes on three-seed Michigan State in the East Regional Semifinal, but if the Spartans get their way, it’ll be Luke Murray’s final game coaching on Dan Hurley’s staff. Hurley’s top offensive assistant, one of the architects of the Huskies’ back-to-back national championships, has long been rumored for head coaching opportunities, and on Thursday, he finally bit.
As reported by Jeff Borzello of ESPN, Murray is finalizing a deal to become the next head coach of Boston College. Just days before his 41st birthday, the son of legendary actor Bill Murray will get his first chance to lead his own program, breaking away from Hurley after a successful off-and-on partnership that stretches back to 2010 when Murray was an assistant on Hurley’s staff at Wagner.
BREAKING: Boston College is finalizing a deal to hire UConn assistant Luke Murray as its next head coach, sources told me and @PeteThamel. Murray helped build back-to-back national champions at UConn and has established himself as an elite offensive tactician. pic.twitter.com/Coz7TqB2U8
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 26, 2026
Luke Murray’s head coaching distraction could benefit Michigan State
UConn isn’t losing Murray yet, so the Huskies will still undoubtedly have a pristine plan of attack on the offensive end. Still, it’s notable that one of Hurley’s top lieutenants spent at least some portion of the four days they had to prepare for Michigan State in negotiations with Boston College, rather than gameplanning for the Spartans.
Michigan State already had a bit of a rest and game-planning advantage on UConn in advance of the Sweet 16. The Spartans beat Louisville in Buffalo, New York, early on Saturday afternoon and were able to get back to East Lansing that night. UConn did not play its second-round game against UCLA in Philadelphia until late Sunday night.
That discrepancy gave Michigan State’s staff a full extra day of gameplanning, though, until the UConn/UCLA matchup went final, Izzo couldn’t be certain which team to gameplan for. Now, with the potential distraction of Murray’s impending departure, Izzo could have a marginal edge over Hurley on Friday night.
Of course, the inverse could also be true. Anytime it's the ‘last dance’ as it is for UConn’s winningest player, Alex Karaban, and now for a top assistant in Murray, the finality can be a galvanizing force. It’s impossible to know which way it will go, and probably just as hard to tell if the Murray news had an impact either way. Still, it’s an interesting footnote to one of the most intriguing coaching matchups in a loaded Sweet 16.