UConn adds Luke Murray as assistant

Storrs — Coach Dan Hurley found a familiar face to fill the vacancy on his UConn men's basketball staff.

Luke Murray, who served under Hurley during his head coaching stops at Wagner and Rhode Island, and also was once the director of basketball operations for current UConn assistant Tom Moore at Quinnipiac, was hired as an assistant coach on Monday.

Murray has 13 years of college coaching experience, most recently spending three seasons as an assistant at Louisville. As the recruiting coordinator, he helped bring in a top five recruiting class in 2019. The Cardinals went 57-28 during his time there.

"I'm tremendously excited to reunite with coach Hurley," Murray said in a release. "He's a mentor of mine and somebody I hold in incredibly high regard. So, the opportunity to work for him and alongside great coaches like Kimani (Young) and Tom (Moore) is really something I'm deeply appreciative of."

Murray, 36, replaces former Husky Kevin Freeman who left the program last month after just one season on Hurley's staff.

"Luke has a high level of experience as a coach and as a recruiter, he is someone I have a lot of confidence in because of the familiarity I have had with him at two other programs," Hurley said. "He has an extremely smart and talented basketball mind and has the commitment level and passion that we need to elevate this program to the championship level where UConn should be.

"I'm very pleased to welcome him to the UConn family."

A native of Palisades, N.Y., and a 2007 graduate of Fairfield University, Murray has a reputation as being one of the top recruiters in college basketball. ESPN ranked Murray one of the top 10 coaches under 40.

Murray spent two seasons with Hurley at Rhode Island before becoming an assistant coach at Xavier (2015-18).

When coach Chris Mack left for Louisville, he brought Murray along to join his staff.

His resume also includes a stint working on Moore's staff at Quinnipiac as director of basketball operations in 2007-08.

Murray is the son of Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Bill Murray.