PREP HOOPS: Poka’s Murph named boys Coach of the Year

Terry Murph played on the first Loachapoka team to ever reach the state finals, back in Tuscaloosa in 1976.

He was an assistant coach on the Indians team that won the state title in 1997.

And this year he made a little history of his own, guiding Loachapoka to a 22-8 record and its first Class 1A title in boys basketball in more than a decade.

“It means a lot as a coach, because everything falls on your head,” Murph said. “It’s something that you organize and you and your assistant coaches put it together.

“My coaching style hasn’t changed. The things I was doing a year, four, five, six, nine years ago, basically doing the same thing. And for some reason it worked this year.”

Murph, the Class 1A and Opelika-Auburn News boys Coach of the Year, helped turn a team that was struggling to find its identity in the middle of the season into a juggernaut by the end.

The unranked Indians served notice that they would be a tough match-up for any team with a 67-49 win over top-ranked Talladega County Central in the Central Region finals.

Then they dismantled No. 2 Phillips — which included 6-foot-7, second-team All-State center Andy Pounders — and ran away with a 53-37 win in the title game over No. 6 Parkway Christian.

Murph said the key to the title run was his players buying into the “team concept.”

“It took all year, it seems like,” he said. “It was consistent from the area tournament on until the championship game. I guess that’s where it clicked.”

Tommy White Jr., the Class 1A boys player of the year and the Indians’ leading scorer, said Murph was on them from the beginning.

“Over the summer, coach told us that if we’d just stop playing all the time — we would come to practice and laugh and joke around. But he wanted us to practice like we were playing a game,” White said. “But that happened the whole season: If we laughed too much, we be
running.

“But that ain’t no problem. We just go on running, go on laughing.”

Murph looked at his tall (for 1A), athletic starting five — 6-1 White, 6-foot Jontavius Willis, 6-2 Quindravius Richardson, 6-3 Marvin Hunter and 5-11 Patrick Moore — and saw the potential for a state title.

He just had to convince his players.

“The more we won and the way we won, I think their confidence grew,” Murph said. “And they believed what we had been telling them.”

The Indians provided a balanced attack on offense, with White averaging 16 points per game, Willis averaging 15, Richardson putting up 11, Moore scoring 10 and Hunter averaging 9.

They could beat a team outside — like they did when Willis hit five 3s and scored 27 against Phillips — or inside — like they did when White went for 18 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game.

But Murph said the team’s success all started with its senior class of Willis, White, and guards Vontrez Hutchinson and Lacorious North.

“If the seniors don’t buy into what you’re doing, then you’re going to have trouble,” Murph said.

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