Back in the Saddle Again: HoopsHD interviews interim South Florida coach Murry Bartow

Some people ease into the new year…while others really take that “new” part to heart.  When we last saw Murry Bartow he was finishing a 200+ win career at East Tennessee State in 2015, a job he got after winning 100+ games as head coach at his alma mater of UAB.  South Florida hired him as an assistant to Orlando Antigua last August, but after Antigua was fired earlier today Bartow was named interim head coach.  He certainly has the genes to succeed: his father Gene was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.  He also has a proven track record: SoCon Coach of the Year in 2004 and Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year 2007.  HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel previously got to chat with Coach Bartow about winning an NCAA title in 1987 as a grad assistant to Coach Bobby Knight and his 3 trips to the NCAA tourney as a head coach: we wish him the best of luck at his new job!

In the early 1980s you played basketball at UAB where you were part of 4 NCAA tourney teams: how good was your program back then, and how on earth did you also have time to be a member of the golf team?! We had some really good teams at UAB. It was a lot of fun even though I was not a main part of the rotation. I was also a golfer, which was fine because the 2 seasons did not overlap that much. I played a lot of golf growing up so I liked it a lot.

After graduation you began your coaching career as a graduate assistant at Indiana where you worked with the Hoosiers’ 1987 NCAA championship team: what was it like to work with Coach Bobby Knight , and what did it mean to you to win a title? It was incredible to win it all after we had lost in the previous year’s tourney to Cleveland State. I loved my 2 years working for Coach Knight and tried to soak up everything he did/said.

From 1989-1996 you served as an assistant coach for your dad Gene, who created the Blazers basketball program: what was it like to work for your dad, and what made him such a great coach? I played for my dad when I went to UAB and also liked working for him. He was a great players’ coach and a very good recruiter. He knew what button to push with each player in order to get the most out of them.

From 1996-2002 you served as head coach at UAB: was it weird to take over for your dad, and what did it mean to you to become head coach at your alma mater? It was an honor to take over for him but it is difficult for any son to try and replace their father: just look at guys like Pat Knight, Sean Sutton, etc. There were big shoes to fill but we had some success.

In 2004 you finished your 1st season at East Tennessee State with a regular season title, a conference tourney title, and COY honors: how were you able to come in and be so successful right from the start? Ed DeChellis had done a great job building the program and we had some great players. It just all came together and we had a really good year.

What are your memories of the 2004 NCAA tourney (Tim Smith had 26 PTS/4 STL in a 3-PT loss to Cincinnati)? We played well and had a great shot to win. It was back and forth the entire game and could have gone either way.

In 2005 your team switched from the Southern Conference to the Atlantic Sun Conference: why did the school make the switch, and what was the biggest difference between the 2 conferences? The switch was made after we decided to drop football and the Southern Conference decided they did not want us in their league, so our AD and president decided to move to the Atlantic Sun. From a men’s basketball perspective they are very similar in terms of being perimeter-oriented leagues with good coaches/players.

What are your memories of the 2009 NCAA tourney (DeJuan Blair had 27 PTS/16 REB in a 10-PT win by #1-seed Pitt)? It was very similar to the Cincinnati game. We were playing really well at that time and entered the tourney with a lot of confidence: we would not be intimidated by anyone. We were overmatched yet were only down by 2 PTS with 4 minutes left. Blair took over late in the game and we did not have any answer for him.

What are your memories of the 2010 NCAA tourney (Eric Bledsoe had 29 PTS after making his 1st 8 3-PT shots in a win by #1-seed Kentucky)? My memories are obviously not real good! The Wildcats had a lot of great players and we were not as strong a team as the previous year. Our game plan was to hope that they did not hit a bunch of 3-PT shots, but once they started making threes it just snowballed from there.

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