E. Tennessee St. names Murry Bartow hoops coach

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SportsTicker: JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee (Ticker) - East Tennessee State, which earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament this past season, on Tuesday named Murry Bartow its men's basketball coach. Bartow, the son of former UCLA coach Gene Bartow, followed his father as coach at Alabama-Birmingham, where he was from 1996-2002 and had an overall record of 103-83. "We are very pleased that Murry has decided to become our new men's basketball coach," East Tennessee State president Dr. Paul E. Stanton said. "We were very pleased with our team's Southern Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament last season, and we know coach Bartow will do all he can to take our program to an even higher level." Ed DeChellis led East Tennessee State to a 20-11 record and a conference tournament title last season, but left the program to become the coach at Penn State. Bartow inherits a team that returns all five starters and eight of its top nine players, including two-time All-Southern Conference selection Zakee Wadood and league Freshman of the Year Tim Smith. "I'm very excited about this opportunity," said Bartow, who spent last season as an analyst for ESPN while also scouting for the Memphis Grizzlies. "Ed did a tremendous job in building a solid base of players and they have accomplished a great deal. There's a tremendous amount of momentum in the program right now, and I simply want that to continue." UAB made three postseason appearances under Bartow, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and getting invitations to the National Invitation Tournament in 1997 and 1998. The Blazers also beat nationally recognized programs such as Florida, Marquette, Auburn, Missouri, Tulsa, Memphis and Louisville in Bartow's tenure.

LL-Murray was 0-7 vs. Huggs, right? http://www.bearcatnews.com/basketball/archives/opponent_lookup.php?OPPONENT=308