3 Thoughts on Michigan Basketball Hiring G-League Coach Dylan Murphy

Mike Boynton Jr. made his second hire since being named the Michigan basketball head coach. He first brought over long-time Brown head coach Mike Martin to be an assistant, and on Friday night, he made his second move.

As first reported by 247Sports Alejandro Zuniga, the Wolverines are hiring G-League coach Dylan Murphy.

Here are three thoughts on the hire.

Adds a unique mindset to Michigan

Team ELY guard Trevelin Queen (21) of the Osceola Magic is named MVP during the G-League Next Up game — USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Michigan's assistant coaches are collegiate coaches, but Murphy is bringing a different mindset to the bench. He has mostly been an NBA or G-League coach, with head coaching experience.

Since 2023, Murphy has been the head coach of the Osceola Magic NBA G League Team. He has been an assistant with Orlando for the past five seasons. And from 2018-20, he served as the Magic's basketball operations analyst, where he provided analytics.

Prior to his time with the Magic, he spent a season with the Atlanta Hawks as a scout. He also spent three seasons with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League as an assistant coach, helping them win an NBA G-League title.

Murphy also spent one season at Ball State, sandwiched in between all of his stops, as a graduate assistant.

Could make for a great talent evaluator

Michigan men’s basketball head coach Mike Boynton Jr. speaks at his introductory press conference — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Part of what Murphy did was evaluate whether G-League players were ready to be called up to the NBA. Using analytics and film study, Murphy would report on whether players should stay in the G-League or move to the NBA.

While college is a different game, Murphy's background is scouting and analytics. He's also been a head coach, so he knows what to watch for on the court. And in today's day and age of college sports, the transfer portal is one of the biggest ways to fill out a roster.

Teams will do or die by the portal, and with Murphy's unique ability to evaluate talent, the Wolverines could continue to be one of the better teams that utilize the portal.

Learning the collegiate game will be masked with other great coaches

While Murphy does bring a unique mindset, along with head-coaching experience in Ann Arbor, the fact is that this is going to be his first challenge as a major college basketball coach. But he's not going to be asked to come in and make wholesale changes, or expected to be the right-hand man to Mike Boynton Jr.

Michigan has the advantage of allowing Murphy to learn the ropes and get fully adjusted to the game. The other fact is that Boynton Jr. has a very good coaching staff built around him. Dusty May had an all-star staff, and while it did take a hit with Justin Joyner and Drew Williamson leaving, Boynton Jr. still has talent.

The Wolverines were able to retain Akeem Miskdeen, Kyle Church, and KT Harrell as assistant coaches. Adding Mike Martin from Brown was huge, and now, Murphy could be the key to it all with the ability to scout talent and use analytics.

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