Michigan basketball to add NBA G League head coach to staff

Mike Boynton Jr. is going outside the college ranks to fill another position on his inaugural coaching staff at Michigan.

The Wolverines are set to hire Dylan Murphy, who most recently was head coach of the NBA G League’s Osceola Magic, as an assistant coach.

Elfus Sports Management, which represents Murphy, shared the news on social media Friday night.

Murphy has spent the past eight years as a member of the NBA’s Orlando Magic organization and the last three as head coach of Orlando’s affiliate club. He guided the Osceola Magic to first-place finishes in the Eastern Conference each season and to the G League Finals in 2025.

Prior to that, he was an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic for three seasons (2020-23) and served as the team’s basketball operations analyst from 2018-20.

Murphy, though, has a unique basketball background and took an unconventional path into the profession. After graduating from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in classics in 2012, he got his start when he turned his basketball blogging into an assistant role with the G League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

After spending three years as an assistant coach with the Mad Ants (2013-16), he spent one season (2016-17) as a G League scout in the Atlanta Hawks’ organization. His only experience in college basketball came as a graduate assistant at Ball State (2017-18).

“I feel very confident that we’re going to be able to put together some really good experience from a wide variety of backgrounds that can bring different things to the table,” Boynton said this week of his staff.

“One of the beauties of being able to sit next to (former head coach) Dusty (May) and listen to how a beautiful mind of basketball thinks is that not being afraid to try things that may be a little bit nontraditional can lead you to some really cool places.”

Murphy certainly checks that box, as he rounds out Boynton’s fifth and final assistant coaching position. Boynton retained Akeem Miskdeen and Kyle Church, promoted KT Harrell from director of basketball operations, and hired former longtime Brown head coach Mike Martin.

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

@jamesbhawkins

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan basketball to add NBA G League head coach to staff