Imagine that your favorite college basketball team only has one losing season in a twenty year span. Since the turning of the century, Murray State men's basketball has only had one losing seasons. That would be the 2016-2017 basketball season in which the Racers finished with a 16-17 record respectively. Since 2000 the Racers have compiled a record of 443-194 and have had two 30 win seasons in 2009, and 2011.

Not only has Murray State been the definition of consistent success at a mid-major school, but they've managed to do it with five different coaches in the past twenty years. That means that the basketball program has been a stepping stone for some of the most talented coaches in college basketball today.

These coaches include:

  • Tyvester Anderson (Now Retired) record of 103-52 in five years with the Racers
  • Mick Cronin (UCLA) record of 69-24 in three years with the team
  • Billy Kennedy (Former Texas A&M coach 2011-2018) who spent five years with the Racers and compiled a 107-53 record with the team
  • Steve Prohm (Iowa State) spent four years with the Racers and compiled a 104-29 record
  • Matt McMahon (Current Head Coach) who has spent the past five years with the Racers and has compiled a 110-51 record thus far with the team

All of these coaches have something in common. They all used Murray State to spearhead them into a coaching position at a higher level school. Potentially even current head coach Matt McMahon could follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and leave for a bigger head coaching job

Murray State has also been home to some of the greatest players to ever come out of the Ohio Valley conference. These include Isaiah Cannon (2009-2013), Cameron Payne (2013-2015), and most recently, Ja Morant (2017-2019. All of these players would be Ohio Valley conference player of the year and Morant and Payne would be future Lottery Picks in the NBA draft following their graduation from Murray State.

Murray State has been chasing greatness the past twenty years and it doesn't look like that's slowing down anytime soon. Maybe current head coach Matt McMahon will choose to build a dynasty their with a consistent winning program, or maybe a new head coach will come in (If McMahon leaves) and he'll become another legend to coach the team like the ones before him. It will be interesting to see how the Murray State basketball program continues to grow in the future. They are one of the best kept secrets in College Basketball today.