Former Tennessee basketball player coached spent the last eight seasons as Whitesburg Christian head coach
Story By Jason Bowen
New Woodville varsity boys basketball head coach Rob Murphy’s first official day on the job Tuesday was a busy one.
The former Whitesburg Christian head coach met the Woodville players, shared his vision for the program going forward and then took the players to the court to begin the Panthers’ allotted five-day spring practice period.
“When I first talked to them, I talked to them about momentum,” Murphy said. “Life is a lot like basketball. You’ve got to live in the moment, focus on the right now, build momentum to get to where you want to be in the future. We’ve got to make sure we’re doing the things today to be on the path to where we want to be.”
Murphy, a Tennessee native, won two state championships during his high school basketball career at Brentwood Academy. He is also a former walk-on basketball player at the University of Tennessee under then UT head coaches Bruce Pearl and Cuonzo Martin.
After a playing stint in semi-professional basketball, Murphy coached AAU basketball teams from 2010-14 and was the head basketball coach at Concord Christian School in Knoxville, Tennessee from 2013-16. Murphy was the head coach at Whitesburg Christian the past eight seasons, leading the program to its first two area championships, first AHSAA Regional appearance and first five sub-regional appearances.
In 2020, Murphy started Vervic, a Huntsville-based human resource/talent acquisition firm. He and wife Lindsay have four children.
Murphy takes over at Woodville after Brian “Bubba” Smith resigned last week after eight seasons.
Murphy said the opportunity at Woodville was “a great situation” for him.
“I know a lot of people in the Woodville community,” he said. “It’s got a good feel. When (Woodville principal Layton Holman) reached out to me and asked me if I had any interest, I knew right away I did. Prayed about it and felt like this would be a great place (to coach).”
“We’re excited to have Coach Murphy join our program,” Holman said. “He brings a wealth of experience. He’s had a lot of success and has great character. We’re looking forward to him leading the way.”
Murphy said his initial practices with the Woodville players have been productive.
“I think with the guys, we’re going to be able to be a flexible type of team,” said Murphy, whose team will have its final spring practice session on Monday. “Offensively, we’re going to create action to get open shots, paint touches and spacing to create shots. Defensively, we’re going to pressure the basketball. We want to be able to absorb a lot of schemes and be able to change (styles in-game).”
