Luke Murray - Volleyball Coach - Colorado State Athletics

Luke Murray

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
luke.murray@colostate.edu
Phone:
970-491-6582

Luke Murray enters his fifth season with the Colorado State volleyball coaching staff in 2018. The assistant coach was hired by Head Coach Tom Hilbert on May 20, 2014. Murray works with the team's middle blockers, in addition to being the program's scouting coordinator and handling a large portion of its recruiting.

In 2017, CSU went 29-4 overall and 17-1 in the Mountain West earning its 14th Mountain West title and eighth of the last nine seasons. The Rams set a program and conference record with six players earning All-Mountain West honors, including Player of the Year and All-American-HM Katie Oleksak. Murray guided middle blocker Paulina Hougaard-Jensen to the 2nd highest hitting efficiency in the country and set a new program record for single-season efficiency with a .471 mark. Middle blocker Kirstie Hillyer finished 2nd in the conference in hitting efficiency behind Hougaard-Jensen, while leading the Mountain West in blocks/set. The Rams finished ranked No. 14 in the NCAA in blocks per set in 2017.

Season number three, Colorado State finished 21-9 and 15-3 in the conference, qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the 22nd consecutive time. Murray guided Kirstie Hillyer to a 1.59 blocks per set average, which ranked No. 4 in the country. The Rams finished No. 2 in the nation in blocks per set, which was the highest ranking for Colorado State.

In his second season, the Rams went 26-4, including an unblemished 18-0 mark in Mountain West action. CSU rode a 20-match win streak into the NCAA Tournament and reached a season-best national ranking of No. 9. CSU's middle blocker duo of Acacia Andrews and Alexandra Poletto were dominant, with both players ranking highly nationally in both blocks and hitting percentage.

In his first season on the Rams bench, CSU had a banner season, going 31-3 - the second-best winning percentage (.912) and second-highest win total in program history. The Rams won the Mountain West, were ranked as high as No. 6 nationally and advanced to the Regional Semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Murray helped mentor five All-Mountain West selections in 2014, including middle blocker Kelsey Snider - who led the team in blocking - and Deedra Foss - who was named the Mountain West Player of the Year and the first AVCA All-America setter in school history.

As a team, CSU ranked high in several statistical categories, including 27th for blocking, averaging 2.67 per set. Additionally, Murray helped CSU to a .280 hitting percentage (seventh in the NCAA), .151 opponent hitting percentage (12th), 13.23 assists per set (17th) and 14.18 kills (18th). CSU was the only team in the country to rank in the top 30 for each category.

Prior to his arrival in Fort Collins, Murray spent two seasons (2012-13) as an assistant at East Tennessee State. With the Buccaneers, he guided the team to a pair of conference titles and a 45-22 overall record. In 2012, ETSU went 23-13 and appeared in the school's first-ever NCAA tournament after running the table during the Atlantic-Sun tournament. A year later, the Buccaneers went 22-9 and won the regular-season title.

Murray worked with the ETSU setters, the position he won a national championship at while playing for Penn State. As ETSU's top assistant, he also served as the team's recruiting coordinator and assisted with scouting and academics.

ETSU setter Jamie Rutledge averaged 10.79 assists per set in 2013 (52nd in NCAA), in addition to earning several community service and leadership awards. Murray also coached Megan Devine, the 2012 Atlantic-Sun Player of the Year and tournament MVP. Devine was also named a 2013 AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. Aside from setting, ETSU's offense was in the top 50 nationally for hitting percentage in 2013, and on defense, the Buccaneers ranked 19th in the NCAA with 2.77 blocks per set.

Even with a successful start to his coaching career, Murray is best known for his playing experience. The former setter helped Penn State to a national title in 2008, being named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. As a senior that year, Murray was also tabbed as an AVCA second-team All-America selection and the AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week on March 27, 2008.

The two-time captain and first-team All-EIVA selection finished his career with 3,191 assists, which ranks seventh all-time in Penn State history. The Nittany Lions advanced to the semifinals or national championship all four years Murray was on the roster (2005-08). He played for head coach Mark Pavlik.

Following his collegiate career, Murray trained with the U.S. National Team in Anaheim, Calif., under Hugh McCutcheon and Alan Knipe (2008-09, spring 2011). From there, Murray played professionally in Cyprus and Puerto Rico (2009-12).

Murray spent three summers as a volleyball clinician with U.S. Elite Volleyball (2011-13), where he co-ran a clinic designed to help coaches implement effective practice methods. Prior to that, he spent two summers (2009-10) as the lead coach for Gold Medal Squared.

Away from the court, Murray has helped his players to plenty of success in the classroom. During the 2012-13 academic year, ETSU held a 3.59 grade-point average, with four student-athletes being placed on the Atlantic-Sun All-Academic Team, and during his first season at CSU seven players earned Mountain West Academic All-Conference honors.

Murray, a native of Washington, Pa., graduated from Penn State in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He is married to the former Kendall Grow.

Career Background

Seasons	School/Team	Title
20012-13	East Tennessee State	Assistant Coach
2014-Present	Colorado State	Assistant Coach

Postseason Experience

Season	School/Team	Position	Appearance
2005	Penn State	Player	NCAA Tournament Semifinals
2006	Penn State	Player	NCAA Tournament Finals
2007	Penn State	Player	NCAA Tournament Semifinals
2008	Penn State	Player	NCAA Tournament Champion
2012	East Tennessee State	Assistant Coach	NCAA Tournament First Round
2014	Colorado State	Assistant Coach	NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals
2015	Colorado State	Assistant Coach	NCAA Tournament First Round
2016	Colorado State	Assistant Coach	NCAA Tournament First Round
2017	Colorado State	Assistant Coach	NCAA Tournament Second Round