By Steve Holt, Opinion Editor

Jon Murray could have been a lawyer, but that would have involved sitting still.

And Murray, ACU’s head cross country coach, isn’t very good at staying put.

Murray prefers to be on the go whether performing odd jobs at the ACU Open Cross Country meet at Sherrod Park, or taking the team to his grandmother’s house for camp.

In fact, after receiving his B.B.A. from Harding University in 1990 and his Master’s in Education in 1991, he was accepted to enter the Pepperdine University School of Law that fall.

Several more years in the library didn’t sound like much fun to Murray, however. So he accepted a better offer-one that combined a Christian atmosphere and the sport he excelled at and obsessed over while at Harding. When Murray was hired as the head cross country coach at ACU, he came to a program that was trying to emphasize the distance sport a little more.

“I probably envisioned going back to Harding because I really enjoyed it there,” Murray said. “But I wanted to see what they did here, and take it back to Harding.”

Twelve years and six national cross country top-10 finishes later, Murray is still crazy about coaching ACU cross country.

“I enjoy wor-king with athletes,” Murray said. “I enjoy helping people succeed, achieve their goals. So I was always going to be a coach these last 12 years. I think the thing that’s kept me here is the Christian environment and being able to work with elite athletes in this environment. Being able to do cross country and track and field at a high level-I don’t think there is any other program out there that is like ours at a Christian school.”

Bryan Phillips has known Murray since Murray was a junior and Phillips was an as-sistant coach at Harding. Phillips, who stepped down as Harding’s head coach last year, said Murray has a special connection to athletes after be-ing a national champion ma-rathoner at Harding.

“He is a very knowledgeable coach, and he really cares about athletes,” Phillips said. “Having been there himself, he knows what it takes to be a top-level competitor.”

Mentoring Athletes

Murray’s athletes say he has been a mentor and constant source of encouragement He is often found with his men and women at 6 a.m. practices or kidding with his athletes around campus.

“He is a really encouraging coach, and he helps you to work hard and stick with it no matter what problems arise,” freshman runner Amanda Maynard said.

Since the reign of track and field athletes like Bobby Morrow and Elmer Gray in the 40’s and 50’s, ACU’s athletic program has been known internationally for track and field. Each of the 14 track and field coaches preceding Murray had one or two distance stars, but too few to make a good cross country team, Murray said.

That’s changed.

The last two seasons, the men’s team has placed second at the Division II National Cross Country Championship. In 2000, Burundi native Alfred Rugema became ACU’s first-ever individual cross country national champion.

Phillips said he and Murray have a running joke about how ACU’s coach is always looked over for national coach of the year, but that drought could end this year. The 2002 men’s squad looks to be Murray’s best yet, and could write itself into the ACU history books as the university’s first national champion team in the sport.

Rugema, considered by many to be one of the top runners in college cross country, said Murray is a motivator.

“Coach Murray has a vision,” Rugema said. “He made me believe in something that was hard for me to believe in. He loves cross country and track, and understands the athlete.”

Angie Waters, a senior runner, said Murray sacrifices much in his role as head coach.

“He goes out of his way to learn new drills and workouts,” Waters said. “He spends a lot of his time preparing for us.”

Chasing Talent

Every athlete on the 2002 men’s and women’s teams was recruited by Murray, who routinely makes visits to potential recruits’ homes to answer questions about the university, college athletics and recruiting.

“We do a good job in the home visits,” Murray said. ” It is a constant thing of finding the right recruits, going and visit ing them in the home and getting them interested in coming to ACU.”

He added that ACU is a fairly easy sell to most athletes.

“I don’t think it’s hard to recruit to ACU at all,” Murray said. “The tradition we have is a very easy sell, but then you talk about the personal attention they are going to get in their classes, the professors I know personally.”

One of the constants on Murray’s successful cross country teams has been the recruiting of international athletes, most of whom come from Africa. Currently, seven international athletes compete for either the men’s or the women’s cross country team.

In the summer of 1999, Murray even made a personal visit to Africa with Kevin Kehl, assistant director of the Center for International and Intercultural Education, to make contacts with coaches and athletes looking to run in the United States.

“You want them to think of you when they have a kid and want to send them to the U.S. to go to school there,” Murray said. “You want them to trust you and say ‘this is a good place to go; you’ll be taken care of.'”

Rugema said Murray made an immediate impression on him..

“When I came to ACU, I only knew two people-Gilbert [Tuhabonye] and Coach Murray,” Rugema said. “Coach Murray came and picked me up from the airport, and immediately became a part of my life. He encouraged me in many ways. He was patient with me and showed me what was going on when I came here.”

Murray said persistence is the key to signing the international athletes he wants.

“It’s a little harder because you obviously have communication problems,” Murray said. “Most of them know somebody. It’s a friend of a friend. You get contact and you start following up. It’s being persistent that makes you successful.”

Raising Jonah

Traveling and coaching, however, can often strain family life. Murray and his wife Samantha, who teaches in the College of Business Administration, celebrated the birth of their first son, Jonah, in the spring. Jon was here for the birth; he was supposed to be at the NCAA Indoor Nationals.

He gives his wife credit for handling things while he’s away.

“[Samantha’s] a tremendous support for me,” Murray said. “I’m not sure she knew what she was getting into when she married me. She’s done a great job of taking care of Jonah, and dealing with family life. She has to be in charge when I’m gone.”

“The good and bad of coaching is that it is all-consuming,” Murray said. “24-7, 365 days.”

His athletes don’t expect that to change.

“I definitely think he will coach for a long time,” Waters said. “He is a very talented coach.”

“This job is ideal for me because I always have something to do,” Murray said.

The decorated coach won’t need to put away his sneakers and stopwatch anytime soon-he’s only 34.

“As long as I’m enjoyin’ it,” Murray said, “I’ll keep doin’ it.”