6-09-2015
Matt McMahon Named 16th Racer Basketball Coach
goracers.com
3-14-2018
Former Oak Ridge star Matt McMahon has Murray State in NCAA tournament
McMahon, who was named as one of “9 Under-the-Radar Coaches to Watch” by NCAA.com, said Prohm has been and continues to be a huge influence on him.
“He’s one of the top coaches in the country,” offered McMahon, who is 59-36 with the Racers.
“I learned a lot not only from his Xs and Os, but from his leadership. Even after he left to go to Iowa State, coach Prohm has done a lot to reach out to me. I’m in contact with him daily.”
3-15-2018
Murray State's Matt McMahon coaching foundation began at Appalachian State
“McMahon never posted gaudy stats — his highest scoring average was 8.8 points per game during his junior season (1998-1999) — but he defined what Peterson called a “connector.”
According to Peterson, that is someone who “connects the dots.” Peterson said McMahon could hit open shots, play strong defense and keep everyone else in line. Essentially, Peterson thought anytime the team needed something, McMahon provided it.
That was one of many reasons Peterson thought McMahon was destined to coach someday, even if McMahon didn’t realize it at the time.
“I could just see it in him,” said Peterson, who is currently the interim general manager for the Charlotte Hornets. “The leadership in him, but also willing to learn and to be one of the best.
“You could tell that’s what he wanted to be was a coach.”
It started with books. A lot of books.
Peterson noticed how new openings would pop up on his App State bookshelf after Matt McMahon came for an office visit. McMahon would notice a book, ask Peterson to borrow it, and return it a week later.
“You always try to find the pointers here and there to help you,” Peterson said. “He was always trying to look in those books to see if he could find something to motivate or get motivation for anybody.”
That intensified even more when McMahon became an assistant coach, and most of that time came under Houston Fancher.
Fancher, who served as an assistant coach during Peterson’s first stint at App State, became the Mountaineers’ head coach when Peterson left for Tulsa. Soon after, Fancher gave McMahon a position on his staff for the 2000-01 season. In 2002, Fancher again hired McMahon, who went to Tennessee as a graduate assistant when Peterson took that job in 2001.
“Matt was never the most gifted athlete in the world, but he was always a thought ahead,” Fancher said. “He was always a play ahead. He was always thinking beyond the present moment.
“He just seemed to be able to have this innate ability to know what was going to happen next because he anticipated things so well, and in order to be a coach on this level, you’ve got to have those qualities.”
Fancher saw that even more during their eight-plus seasons of working together. McMahon both thrived with leadership and yearned to learn more about it.
During one season together, McMahon presented Fancher with a gift. It was a packet of notes that broke down multiple leadership books. Not only did it provide notes, but it also itemized the thoughts McMahon learned from them. Fancher said McMahon gave it to everyone on staff that year, and Fancher still has his copy under his desk at home.
Things like that made Fancher realize McMahon would one day lead his own staff.
So Fancher tried to expose him to different aspects of running a basketball program. From practice planning to player development to community outreach and service, Fancher watched McMahon excel with it all.
“There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to be an excellent head coach,” said Fancher, who coached UNC Charlotte on an interim basis for the last three months after Mark Price’s firing. “Absolutely no doubt in my mind.”
McMahon’s coaching career mirrors that of many other coaches: it had to go where it needed to at the time.
Following his first App State season under Fancher and his year under Peterson at Tennessee, McMahon spent most of the 2000s with the Mountaineers. That came mostly under Fancher (2000-01, 2002-09), followed by a short stint with Peterson (2009-10).
When Jason Capel got the App State job in 2010, McMahon moved on to UNC Wilmington with Peterson. He stayed there until latching on with Murray State and then-head coach Steve Prohm in 2011. McMahon left Murray State to become the top assistant at Louisiana Tech under his former Tennessee roommate Eric Konkol in 2015, but only for a couple weeks. Prohm left Murray State for Iowa State, and McMahon was picked to succeed him.
“It is definitely a profession that is an inexact science,” McMahon said. “There’s not a right or wrong (path)to take.”
Peterson and Fancher aren’t shy about the topic: both wanted McMahon to become App State’s head coach after Peterson’s second stint ended. But that didn’t happen, and it’s not something McMahon is bitter about.
McMahon said he couldn’t ask more from his time at App State. The school gave him the chance to play at a Division-I level, which no other school did. He played and coached with guys he considered to be elite. And he became part of some of the best men’s basketball seasons in App State history, as a player and a coach.
“It’s really neat to get to work at your alma mater and get to work for your college coaches,” McMahon said last Friday.
McMahon sees many similarities between Boone, N.C., and his current home in Murray, Ky. They’re two small college towns that have serious pride for their respective universities.
Now, he is the head coach that all of his old coaches said he’d be. More notably, he’s leading a program that’s been a springboard for many coaches into major conference jobs during the last 15 years (Mark Gottfried, Mick Cronin, Billy Kennedy, Prohm). But he said that professional ladder climb is not a priority for him.
He’s the coach his former bosses expected because he’s focused on the people in and around his programs. And that’s why they always thought McMahon would be successful.
Especially as a leader.
“The thing I really enjoy about coaching is it puts you in a position where you get to impact people, both your players, other coaches, your community,” McMahon said. “That’s how I’ve always moved forward: trying to get better at what I’m doing and trying to impact as many people in a positive way as I can.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve gotten to play for an elite coach, I got to work for elite coaches. ...It’s more about the people more so than the job title or opportunity.”
journalnow.com
01-20-2022
Episode 727: Murray State head coach Matt McMahon ( Audio)
In this episode of Marching to Madness, hosts Blake Lovell and Ken Cross welcome back Murray State head coach Matt McMahon.
Topics of discussion include:
* Three consecutive wins of over 20 points
* How Tevin Brown affects a game
* The Racers' defensive approach
* Recent play of KJ Hill and Justice Hill
3-03-2020
Matt McMahon: Pure passion leads to success
“I always wanted to play college basketball, going back to, I remember being in first grade and watching my first NCAA tournament with my dad, watching March Madness,” McMahon said. “I grew up going to different NCAA tournament sites with a group of about 30 people, family and friends. We’d go to different spots all over the country and watch NCAA tournaments. It was always a dream of mine to get to play college basketball.”
“I was blessed to get do that for a great coach in Buzz Peterson at Appalachian State. I still can’t believe it. I got to play in the NCAA tournament, made a three in the NCAA tournament,” McMahon said. “I missed a bunch, but I did make one, so I’m in the record book forever.”
“At that point, when it was time for the ball to stop bouncing, I just loved sports, and I loved college basketball,” McMahon said. “Outside of my mom and dad, the most impactful people in my life have been my coaches, all the way back to junior high, high school, and obviously into college. That’s what I have a passion to do, so I’ve just been fortunate.”
“I’ve gotten to work for some great coaches – Buzz Peterson, Houston Fancher, then Steve Prohm, even my two weeks at Louisiana Tech with Eric Konkol, who is one of the best people and coaches in all of college basketball,” McMahon said. “I’ve just been fortunate and more than blessed to get to coach at a special place like Murray State and I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
“When you grow up dreaming of doing this (coaching), what happened (Jan. 30) is not what you dream about, not being a part of that, but that’s life,” McMahon said. “I think you take it as an opportunity to learn to get better, hopefully, to encourage your players and build them back up and let them understand that if that’s the worst thing that happens to you in life, you’re going to be in pretty good shape. So, we’re in a great position. We’ve got really great players, a great team, a group of guys that have overcome a lot this season to put themselves in this position.”
www.murrayledger.com
2-02-2022
Court Report: Ja Morant's frequent trips back to Murray State for epic pickup games helped Racers reclaim mojo
2-07-2022
Led by coach Matt McMahon, Murray State is among winningest teams in Division I basketball
“That man’s full of energy at all times,” said fifth-year senior Tevin Brown. “He’s always on go.”
And this year, the program has seen a “return to elite point guard play,” as McMahon said. Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal, both SEC transfers, have been electric. Hill, who nearly played football and basketball at Arkansas, averages 13.8 points and 5.0 assists per game and Hannibal, who played at South Carolina last year, is a “middle linebacker playing guard,” according to McMahon.
For McMahon, the crux of running his program is more about relationships, which he calls “the lifeblood of your program,” than necessarily about offensive or defensive schemes.
He likes to read books written by football coaches like Bill Walsh, Nick Saban and Tony Dungy — not because learning about the 3-4 defense or the Cover 2 will help his team on the court, but because he feels like he can learn something from coaches who organize such a large team and structure.
“I know the Xs and Os are very important in college basketball, but I’m just a big believer in culture and the standard of performance in your organization, not necessarily being about what you do but how you do it,” McMahon said.
McMahon, a Tennessee native, played at Appalachian State and then met his wife, Mary, when each was coaching at the university. They now have three children, and each of their names, like their parents, begin with “Ma”: Maris, Mason and Mabry.
McMahon took over the Murray program in 2015 at age 37, and in 2018, signed a contract through 2023 that pays $500,000 a year.
He coached Murray to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, with Morant, and has the Racers rolling once again. During his time at Murray, he’s posted a winning percentage of .687 and fans of high-major teams have floated McMahon’s name as a possible future headman.
When asked if it’s a compliment to see his name as a potential coach at other schools, McMahon focused back on Murray State, which is, of course, in the midst of a terrific season.
“I don’t ever see any of that,” he said. “I’m really blessed to be the head coach here at Murray State, and we have a really special team, and so just that requires all of our attention and focus on — how do we max this team out and finish the year as strong as we can?”
Players say that McMahon bubbles over with energy in practices and on game days.
“We get a speech before every game, we go out and warm up, come back in before the game, we get another speech, break it down, get a speech at halftime, get one at the end of the game,” said Brown.
Said Hill: “You never see Coach Mac coming in on a bad day with low energy.”
2-08-2022
Matt McMahon Murray State Basketball Offense - YouTube
2-18-2022
The Athletic: Race against time: A moment with Matt McMahon and Murray State amid another memorable run
Quotes only:
“It’s the moment you’re in,” he says. “Stay there. I tell our guys all the time, don’t ever take this for granted.”
“In reality, he’s probably done the best job of any coach that’s been there,” says [Steve] Prohm, the 2012 and 2015 OVC coach of the year. “I’m not lying — Matt is as good as anyone in the country.”
“We do what we do, but it’s all done with simplicity, clarity and intentionality,” McMahon says.
“Eleven years here. Not many people have been here that long. But I’ve been all-in here, and it’s so rewarding. It’s not a pressure. I think some people think of it as a pressure or a burden. Maybe I used to think that. But it’s not. I enjoy coaching. That’s why I’m here.”
02-25-2022
Seth Davis
“Matt McMahon, head coach, Murray State. McMahon has the good fortune to coach at one of the most prestigious mid-major programs in the country. He has won or shared four regular season titles during his seven-year tenure, and this season he has produced his best team. The Racers are 27-2 (17-0 OVC) after routing Belmont Thursday night and are ranked No. 19 in the AP poll. The last time Murray State was ranked was 2015, when Steve Prohm parlayed that success into a high-major job at Iowa State. Louisville is going to go after every big name it can, but if the school finds itself having to turn to the mid-major ranks, a proven coach inside the state could be a palatable option. That’s the shoot-the-moon job for McMahon.”
Matt McMahon Named 16th Racer Basketball Coach
Matt McMahon Named 16th Racer Basketball Coach - Murray State University Athletics
Matt McMahon becomes the 16th head coach of the Murray State men's basketball program.
goracers.com
3-14-2018
Former Oak Ridge star Matt McMahon has Murray State in NCAA tournament
McMahon, who was named as one of “9 Under-the-Radar Coaches to Watch” by NCAA.com, said Prohm has been and continues to be a huge influence on him.
“He’s one of the top coaches in the country,” offered McMahon, who is 59-36 with the Racers.
“I learned a lot not only from his Xs and Os, but from his leadership. Even after he left to go to Iowa State, coach Prohm has done a lot to reach out to me. I’m in contact with him daily.”
Former Oak Ridge star Matt McMahon has Murray State in NCAA tournament
Matt McMahon’s basketball sojourn has led him from standout guard at Oak Ridge High to one of the rising young college coaches to watch at Murray State.
amp.knoxnews.com
3-15-2018
Murray State's Matt McMahon coaching foundation began at Appalachian State
“McMahon never posted gaudy stats — his highest scoring average was 8.8 points per game during his junior season (1998-1999) — but he defined what Peterson called a “connector.”
According to Peterson, that is someone who “connects the dots.” Peterson said McMahon could hit open shots, play strong defense and keep everyone else in line. Essentially, Peterson thought anytime the team needed something, McMahon provided it.
That was one of many reasons Peterson thought McMahon was destined to coach someday, even if McMahon didn’t realize it at the time.
“I could just see it in him,” said Peterson, who is currently the interim general manager for the Charlotte Hornets. “The leadership in him, but also willing to learn and to be one of the best.
“You could tell that’s what he wanted to be was a coach.”
It started with books. A lot of books.
Peterson noticed how new openings would pop up on his App State bookshelf after Matt McMahon came for an office visit. McMahon would notice a book, ask Peterson to borrow it, and return it a week later.
“You always try to find the pointers here and there to help you,” Peterson said. “He was always trying to look in those books to see if he could find something to motivate or get motivation for anybody.”
That intensified even more when McMahon became an assistant coach, and most of that time came under Houston Fancher.
Fancher, who served as an assistant coach during Peterson’s first stint at App State, became the Mountaineers’ head coach when Peterson left for Tulsa. Soon after, Fancher gave McMahon a position on his staff for the 2000-01 season. In 2002, Fancher again hired McMahon, who went to Tennessee as a graduate assistant when Peterson took that job in 2001.
“Matt was never the most gifted athlete in the world, but he was always a thought ahead,” Fancher said. “He was always a play ahead. He was always thinking beyond the present moment.
“He just seemed to be able to have this innate ability to know what was going to happen next because he anticipated things so well, and in order to be a coach on this level, you’ve got to have those qualities.”
Fancher saw that even more during their eight-plus seasons of working together. McMahon both thrived with leadership and yearned to learn more about it.
During one season together, McMahon presented Fancher with a gift. It was a packet of notes that broke down multiple leadership books. Not only did it provide notes, but it also itemized the thoughts McMahon learned from them. Fancher said McMahon gave it to everyone on staff that year, and Fancher still has his copy under his desk at home.
Things like that made Fancher realize McMahon would one day lead his own staff.
So Fancher tried to expose him to different aspects of running a basketball program. From practice planning to player development to community outreach and service, Fancher watched McMahon excel with it all.
“There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to be an excellent head coach,” said Fancher, who coached UNC Charlotte on an interim basis for the last three months after Mark Price’s firing. “Absolutely no doubt in my mind.”
McMahon’s coaching career mirrors that of many other coaches: it had to go where it needed to at the time.
Following his first App State season under Fancher and his year under Peterson at Tennessee, McMahon spent most of the 2000s with the Mountaineers. That came mostly under Fancher (2000-01, 2002-09), followed by a short stint with Peterson (2009-10).
When Jason Capel got the App State job in 2010, McMahon moved on to UNC Wilmington with Peterson. He stayed there until latching on with Murray State and then-head coach Steve Prohm in 2011. McMahon left Murray State to become the top assistant at Louisiana Tech under his former Tennessee roommate Eric Konkol in 2015, but only for a couple weeks. Prohm left Murray State for Iowa State, and McMahon was picked to succeed him.
“It is definitely a profession that is an inexact science,” McMahon said. “There’s not a right or wrong (path)to take.”
Peterson and Fancher aren’t shy about the topic: both wanted McMahon to become App State’s head coach after Peterson’s second stint ended. But that didn’t happen, and it’s not something McMahon is bitter about.
McMahon said he couldn’t ask more from his time at App State. The school gave him the chance to play at a Division-I level, which no other school did. He played and coached with guys he considered to be elite. And he became part of some of the best men’s basketball seasons in App State history, as a player and a coach.
“It’s really neat to get to work at your alma mater and get to work for your college coaches,” McMahon said last Friday.
McMahon sees many similarities between Boone, N.C., and his current home in Murray, Ky. They’re two small college towns that have serious pride for their respective universities.
Now, he is the head coach that all of his old coaches said he’d be. More notably, he’s leading a program that’s been a springboard for many coaches into major conference jobs during the last 15 years (Mark Gottfried, Mick Cronin, Billy Kennedy, Prohm). But he said that professional ladder climb is not a priority for him.
He’s the coach his former bosses expected because he’s focused on the people in and around his programs. And that’s why they always thought McMahon would be successful.
Especially as a leader.
“The thing I really enjoy about coaching is it puts you in a position where you get to impact people, both your players, other coaches, your community,” McMahon said. “That’s how I’ve always moved forward: trying to get better at what I’m doing and trying to impact as many people in a positive way as I can.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve gotten to play for an elite coach, I got to work for elite coaches. ...It’s more about the people more so than the job title or opportunity.”
Murray State's Matt McMahon coaching foundation began at Appalachian State
Matt McMahon sat in his office at Murray State on March 9. It was 10:44 a.m., and the third-year head basketball coach found himself in a slight lull between two
01-20-2022
Episode 727: Murray State head coach Matt McMahon ( Audio)
In this episode of Marching to Madness, hosts Blake Lovell and Ken Cross welcome back Murray State head coach Matt McMahon.
Topics of discussion include:
* Three consecutive wins of over 20 points
* How Tevin Brown affects a game
* The Racers' defensive approach
* Recent play of KJ Hill and Justice Hill
3-03-2020
Matt McMahon: Pure passion leads to success
“I always wanted to play college basketball, going back to, I remember being in first grade and watching my first NCAA tournament with my dad, watching March Madness,” McMahon said. “I grew up going to different NCAA tournament sites with a group of about 30 people, family and friends. We’d go to different spots all over the country and watch NCAA tournaments. It was always a dream of mine to get to play college basketball.”
“I was blessed to get do that for a great coach in Buzz Peterson at Appalachian State. I still can’t believe it. I got to play in the NCAA tournament, made a three in the NCAA tournament,” McMahon said. “I missed a bunch, but I did make one, so I’m in the record book forever.”
“At that point, when it was time for the ball to stop bouncing, I just loved sports, and I loved college basketball,” McMahon said. “Outside of my mom and dad, the most impactful people in my life have been my coaches, all the way back to junior high, high school, and obviously into college. That’s what I have a passion to do, so I’ve just been fortunate.”
“I’ve gotten to work for some great coaches – Buzz Peterson, Houston Fancher, then Steve Prohm, even my two weeks at Louisiana Tech with Eric Konkol, who is one of the best people and coaches in all of college basketball,” McMahon said. “I’ve just been fortunate and more than blessed to get to coach at a special place like Murray State and I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
“When you grow up dreaming of doing this (coaching), what happened (Jan. 30) is not what you dream about, not being a part of that, but that’s life,” McMahon said. “I think you take it as an opportunity to learn to get better, hopefully, to encourage your players and build them back up and let them understand that if that’s the worst thing that happens to you in life, you’re going to be in pretty good shape. So, we’re in a great position. We’ve got really great players, a great team, a group of guys that have overcome a lot this season to put themselves in this position.”
Matt McMahon: Pure passion leads to success
MURRAY — Back in 2015, Steve Prohm was on his way out and headed to Iowa State, and his assistant head coach, Matt McMahon, was on his way to Louisiana
2-02-2022
Court Report: Ja Morant's frequent trips back to Murray State for epic pickup games helped Racers reclaim mojo
2-07-2022
Led by coach Matt McMahon, Murray State is among winningest teams in Division I basketball
“That man’s full of energy at all times,” said fifth-year senior Tevin Brown. “He’s always on go.”
And this year, the program has seen a “return to elite point guard play,” as McMahon said. Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal, both SEC transfers, have been electric. Hill, who nearly played football and basketball at Arkansas, averages 13.8 points and 5.0 assists per game and Hannibal, who played at South Carolina last year, is a “middle linebacker playing guard,” according to McMahon.
For McMahon, the crux of running his program is more about relationships, which he calls “the lifeblood of your program,” than necessarily about offensive or defensive schemes.
He likes to read books written by football coaches like Bill Walsh, Nick Saban and Tony Dungy — not because learning about the 3-4 defense or the Cover 2 will help his team on the court, but because he feels like he can learn something from coaches who organize such a large team and structure.
“I know the Xs and Os are very important in college basketball, but I’m just a big believer in culture and the standard of performance in your organization, not necessarily being about what you do but how you do it,” McMahon said.
McMahon, a Tennessee native, played at Appalachian State and then met his wife, Mary, when each was coaching at the university. They now have three children, and each of their names, like their parents, begin with “Ma”: Maris, Mason and Mabry.
McMahon took over the Murray program in 2015 at age 37, and in 2018, signed a contract through 2023 that pays $500,000 a year.
He coached Murray to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, with Morant, and has the Racers rolling once again. During his time at Murray, he’s posted a winning percentage of .687 and fans of high-major teams have floated McMahon’s name as a possible future headman.
When asked if it’s a compliment to see his name as a potential coach at other schools, McMahon focused back on Murray State, which is, of course, in the midst of a terrific season.
“I don’t ever see any of that,” he said. “I’m really blessed to be the head coach here at Murray State, and we have a really special team, and so just that requires all of our attention and focus on — how do we max this team out and finish the year as strong as we can?”
Players say that McMahon bubbles over with energy in practices and on game days.
“We get a speech before every game, we go out and warm up, come back in before the game, we get another speech, break it down, get a speech at halftime, get one at the end of the game,” said Brown.
Said Hill: “You never see Coach Mac coming in on a bad day with low energy.”
Led by coach Matt McMahon, Murray State is among winningest teams in Division I basketball
Ja Morant and the Racers went to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and 2019, and Murray State hopes to return this season.
amp.courier-journal.com
2-08-2022
Matt McMahon Murray State Basketball Offense - YouTube
2-18-2022
The Athletic: Race against time: A moment with Matt McMahon and Murray State amid another memorable run
Quotes only:
“It’s the moment you’re in,” he says. “Stay there. I tell our guys all the time, don’t ever take this for granted.”
“In reality, he’s probably done the best job of any coach that’s been there,” says [Steve] Prohm, the 2012 and 2015 OVC coach of the year. “I’m not lying — Matt is as good as anyone in the country.”
“We do what we do, but it’s all done with simplicity, clarity and intentionality,” McMahon says.
“Eleven years here. Not many people have been here that long. But I’ve been all-in here, and it’s so rewarding. It’s not a pressure. I think some people think of it as a pressure or a burden. Maybe I used to think that. But it’s not. I enjoy coaching. That’s why I’m here.”
02-25-2022
Seth Davis
“Matt McMahon, head coach, Murray State. McMahon has the good fortune to coach at one of the most prestigious mid-major programs in the country. He has won or shared four regular season titles during his seven-year tenure, and this season he has produced his best team. The Racers are 27-2 (17-0 OVC) after routing Belmont Thursday night and are ranked No. 19 in the AP poll. The last time Murray State was ranked was 2015, when Steve Prohm parlayed that success into a high-major job at Iowa State. Louisville is going to go after every big name it can, but if the school finds itself having to turn to the mid-major ranks, a proven coach inside the state could be a palatable option. That’s the shoot-the-moon job for McMahon.”
