When Sherri Murrell arrived at Portland State in the summer that preceded the 2007-08 season, there was only one person on campus that would ever claim that they anticipated the turnaround that her hiring would spark for the women’s basketball program.
Long known as one of the cellar-dwellers in the Big Sky Conference, the Vikings were coming off of their best season in four years under then head coach Charity Elliott.
Although they were just 8-8 in conference play, people were raving about the future of the young team that would be returning two of the top young talents in the conference in guard Claire Faucher and hard-nosed forward Kelsey Kahle.
But Elliott—in a moment that she has likely regretted multiple times since—resigned for another job, and in stepped Murrell, fresh off a tumultuous five-year stint at Washington State.
Only athletic director Torre Chisholm—now with the added benefit of some 20/20 hindsight—could say that he expected this type of turnaround from his first hire at Portland State.
In Murrell’s first two seasons, the squad has won more Big Sky games already, 24, than the team did in four and a half seasons under Elliott and the previous head coach.
Never in any Portland State fans’ wildest dreams were notions of the Vikings headed into the final conference matchup with a chance to win the conference outright and host the Big Sky Championship.
And yet that has become the reality under Murrell’s regime, as the Vikings will take on Montana tomorrow with an opportunity to claim the program’s first ever conference championship.
The remarkable turnabout should not be overlooked.
Were this dramatic of a change to come about for Jerry Glanville’s football team, the Portland State campus would be alive with chatter and Glanville’s renowned name would be uttered as a candidate to fill coaching vacancies across the country.
Even this season, the women’s squad has clearly outperformed their male counterparts with the kind of solid play, tenacious defense and inspired senior leadership that the men’s team has lacked.
While the result of the final weekend in women’s conference play are still pending, the impact of Murrell’s coaching style is undeniable.
The Vikings are a dramatically improved program from the one that Murrell inherited just 20 months ago and could soon add another impressive accomplishment to its resume: an NCAA Tournament appearance.