The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546232
38 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2026 Before his time there, Murphy spent five seasons with the Magic, three as an assistant coach under Steve Clifford and Jamahl Mosley, and two as a basketball operations analyst focused on scouting and game prep. Murphy got his start in professional coaching with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA Development League span- ning the 2013-16 seasons. Brown, meanwhile, posted a 171-202 record (.458) with three Ivy League Tournament victories in 14 seasons without an NCAA Tournament appear- ance, but former Michigan coach John Beilein told us his coaching acumen was much more impressive than his re- cord. Beilein actually considered hir- ing Brown as an assistant when he was at Michigan. He was impressed with Brown's ability to identify talent. "I'll start by saying I'm excited about the role and the responsibility that Mike has laid out," Martin said on 99.7 FM News Talk in Providence. "I believe in him as a coach. I believe in him as a per- son. Obviously, the institution speaks for itself. The program and the recent success speak for itself. "I think they have a really good roster for this coming season, and I fully un- derstand the expectations are going to be sky high — and they should be when you're at Michigan. I'm just going to try to add as much value as I can and be the best assistant coach possible. I do think when you spent 14 years in the seat you hopefully can transition some of those skills to make you a better assistant coach, and that's my biggest duty right now." Boynton plans to lean on his as- sistants the way May did, working to their strengths. He believes he's better prepared for this opportunity thanks to his time with May, with the former Wolverine coach even offering to bring him to Dallas if Boynton didn't get the Michigan offer. "One of the things I take the most pride in is learning from every situation that I'm in," Boynton said. "I learned during those seven years. I evolved dur- ing that time." "Certainly, in the last two years, working alongside Dusty and seeing things from a different perspective, I feel like I've been able to evolve in terms of learning how to delegate and learning how to manage the staff, learning how to be more convicted in the things that I believe in. "As I move forward, I'll try to sur- round myself with people who can help me be aware of those blind spots that I have and enhance the things and be re- ally good in areas that they're great at." That includes offensive coaching, ad- mittedly not Boynton's forte. Murphy is expected to help there, while Brown will likely work with the defense. "I want to hire guys who can continue to look forward in that regard and be creative, evolve as our team evolves and changes, be able to make adjustments that are necessary throughout the sea- son, while I still focus the majority of my attention on our defensive schemes and adjustments and things like that," Boynton said. T h e Wo lve r i n e s w i l l p u t t h ose changes on display in late August during a trip to Lithuania and Croatia (Aug. 21- 29), where they're anxious to see what they've got beyond projected starting guards Cadeau and McKenney, JP Es- trella (Tennessee forward transfer), and Moustapha Thiam (center, Cincinnati transfer). "Those guys give you a lot of con- fidence, at least, that you're going to have a really competitive top end of the roster," Boynton said. "The other guys just haven't proven it yet, but we be- lieve in them. We believe in [sophomore forward] Oscar Goodman, who's been in our program for two years. We believe in [sophomore wing] Ricky Liburd, who's been here a year, working his butt off learning our system. "We believe in the guys who haven't yet practiced with us and in [freshmen] Brandon McCoy and Quinn Costello. We even believe in the guys who prob- ably aren't expected to do as much at this point." ❏ Dylan Murphy comes to Michigan after eight years in the Orlando Magic organization. He was head coach of the NBA franchise's G League affiliate before joining the Wolverines' staff. PHOTO COURTESY NBA G LEAGUE