...the Future of McMurry - McMurry University

ATHLETICS
For the full athletics update, please visit us on the web at
www.mcm.edu/athletics/.
UPDATE
For the full athletics update, please visit us on the web at
www.mcm.edu/athletics/.
Danielle Kelton
ATHLETICS
UPDATE
The Spring in Review
Track The McMurry track team sent 13 athletes to
the national outdoor meet in May and came home with
several All-America honors, and reached a milestone
when the men’s 4X100-meter relay team became the first
male relay team in school history to win a national title.
Baseball The McMurry baseball team shrugged off
a slow 8-6 start to the season by winning 21 of its final
32 games. The team reached the American Southwest
Conference Championship game, but fell to Texas
Lutheran, who won its third-straight ASC title.
Tennis The McMurry tennis teams had one of the most
successful seasons in the school’s history. The women’s
squad made the first American Southwest Conference
Tournament appearance in school history for either the
men or the women. The team, under head coach Mark
Hathorn, responded by winning its first round match
over LeTourneau before falling to nationally-ranked
Hardin-Simmons.
Men’s Golf For the second time since joining the
American Southwest Conference, the McMurry men’s
golf team was selected to participate in the NCAA
Division III Golf Championships. After dominating the
fall and spring with
several tournament wins and a second place finish in the
American Southwest Conference Championships, head
coach Russ Evans and the team received an at-large bid.
The team was in a tie for fifth place in the opening round
of the national tournament, but the quick start didn’t last;
however, the team did make the final cut and placed 16th.
Women’s Golf The women’s team placed third at
the ASC Tournament Championships and sophomore
Barbara John was the runner-up in the individual race.
Fall Previews
Football Excitement is brewing for the upcoming
2007 football season. After a 3-7 season, newly appointed
head coach Donny Gray has overhauled the coaching
staff and expects to make an impact this season on the
American Southwest Conference. Gray, a long-time
assistant, will be one of the youngest collegiate head
football coaches in America at age 32. Gray spent six
years as an assistant at McMurry before receiving the
promotion after former head coach Joe Crousen stepped
down following the 2006 season.
Soccer McMurry Soccer will get a new look for both
teams as the men and women
will have new leadership.
Steve Allan, who had the
duties of coaching both the
men and women in 2006,
moved to Michigan for
family reasons.
Athletic
Director Bill
Libby hired
Tim Grove
2007 National Track
Relay Champions:
John Mikalik, Chris Kelley,
Hanneus Ollison,
Bert Green
to lead the men’s team over the
summer, and also hired Stan
Levrets in June to head the
women’s program.
Volleyball Second year
volleyball head coach Jason
McAden had
a solid
recruiting
off-season and
hopes to bolster
a squad that went 6-26 last season.
The volleyball team will open with
Home Field Advantage
Perhaps when Donny Gray was hired as McMurry’s head
football coach, some may have speculated that he was
too young to be a head coach. What most don’t know is
Gray began the journey to
his first head coaching job
much earlier than most. On
September 13, 1974—just
three days after he was born—
he was at his first football
game witnessing his father,
Dwayne, coach at Amherst
High School in his first year as
a head coach.
Though Gray may not
have been aware enough to
know what was going on at three days of age, it wouldn’t
be long before he was immersed in the game of football
and in the world of coaching.
“In my elementary days, instead of going home after
school, I would go to the practice field,” said Gray, whose
father was a head football coach in Texas for 28 years
beginning in 1974. “Growing up, whenever he would go
a tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, August 30
- September 1.
Cross Country McMurry’s cross country teams
promise to have another strong showing in 2007. The
women’s team will look to defend its first-ever American
Southwest Conference title after winning it in 2006. The
men’s team placed second at the ASC Championships;
however, the team’s fifth place showing at the NCAA
Regional Meet was even more impressive. The team
will play host to two meets in 2007, including the
Texas Division III Championships Sept. 22. McMurry
introduced a new home course in 2006 at the Abilene
State Park in Buffalo Gap.
to playoff games or go to scout games, he would always
take me with him. I was charting film and watching
games from the time I can remember.”
As the son of a head coach all his
life, Gray learned from his father
early on that there was more to
coaching football than wins and
losses.
“He was the greatest influence
in my life,” Donny said of his dad.
“Growing up I got to see him
influence players’ lives and alter
the course of their lives for the
better—not just on the field, but
in life. There were a bunch of kids
who might not have amounted to anything, but he helped
them to be really good people in the world.”
Gray said that his father showed him what it meant
to work hard and what it meant to care about his
players. Dwayne had a simple solution to the problem of
balancing his job and his family: bring them together.
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