Billy Jack Murphy was the longtime coach and AD at Memphis. This past week he passed away. He coached the Tigers from 58'-71' posting a Memphis record 91 victories. "Spook", as he was often referred to from his playing days at Mississippi State, was an all SEC athlete before cutting his Bulldog career short to become a Marine. Murphy was a highly decorated WW2 veteran earning the Bronze Star, the Presidential Citation and the Navy Citation during his service.Upon returning from the war Murphy finished out his career and graduated from Mississippi State. His coaching career began as an assistant at Memphis State, Mississippi State, and Minnesota before taking over for Memphis is 1958. In 1966 Murphy took on the role of AD in addition to keeping his coaching post. During his span he was credited with increasing the football team's profile by taking on major programs in the south. As an AD he saw overwhelming growth in the the athletics budget and enhanced several different sports team's performance levels at Memphis.
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