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“It has been an honor to be the head coach at Delta State for the last 14 years,” Murray told SwimSwam on Friday, his final day with the school.
Murray has served as the head coach at Delta State for the last 14 seasons, and has built one of the NSISC’s dominant teams in that period. His men’s and women’s teams have combined for 10 conference titles and 12 conference runner-up finishes in 14 seasons, won 224 NSISC event titles, and have had 12 student-athletes wen 15 Swimmer of the Meet honors. 22 of the 42 conference records currently belong to Delta State swimmers.
The men’s team has finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Division II Championships six times during Murray’s tenure, peaking with a 2nd-place finish in 2019. The women’s team has three top 10 finishes under Murray, placing 9th in 2015, 10th in 2016, and 10th in 2021. Murray was named the CSCAA Men’s NCAA National Swim Coach of the Year in 2019.
Delta State athletes have excelled academically too. His swimmers have three times earned recognition as the Elite 90 Award winners for being the athlete with the highest GPA who competes at the NCAA Championship final site. Melanie Tombers won the award in 2017, Kyle Weesner won it in 2019, and Michael Maly won it in 2021.
Murray is also a member of the NCAA College Swim/Dive Coaches Connection Committee.
Friday, September 20th, is Murray’s last day at Delta State and his next stop will be coaching with the New Wave Swim Team in Raleigh, North Carolina. The program, led by John Roy, is where Dan’l Murray’s younger brother Zach Murray is a Site Director and Senior Coach.
The club finished 7th in both the boys’ and girls’ scoring at the spring 2024 North Carolina Age Group Championships. They also qualified four swimmers for the US Olympic Swimming Trials, including brothers Sam Marsteiner and Matthew Marsteiner, James Bennison, and 33-year-old Kimberly Ruiz. Sam Marsteiner, the #7 recruit in the high school class of 2026, is one of the big early commitments from that group, having pledged his college career to nearby NC State.
Murray says that the move will bring him closer to his family, most of which live in North Carolina.
Delta State is an NCAA Division II school located in Cleveland, Mississippi near the state’s border with Arkansas. At the 2024 NCAA Division II Championships, the Delta State women finished 15th and the men finished 22nd.