Michigan men's basketball has added a G League head coach with an unconventional background to its staff for 2026-27.
Michigan men's basketball has officially added Dylan Murphy, most recently the head coach of the Osceola Magic NBA G League Team, as an assistant coach.
The program announced the news Monday morning, confirming The Michigan Insider's report from Friday evening. Murphy has worked within the Orlando Magic organization for the past eight years, including the last three as head coach of their G League affiliate, which he has led to three first-place finishes.
"Dylan has earned tremendous respect throughout basketball because of the way he develops players and builds relationships," U-M coach Mike Boynton said via a press release. "He brings valuable experience from both the NBA and G League, and his ability to combine teaching, analytics and communication will have an immediate impact on our program. Just as importantly, he shares our values and our vision for what Michigan basketball should be."
Murphy is known for his offensive prowess, and his accolades include NBA G League Coach of the Month honors in March 2025. Prior to his time in charge of the Osceola Magic, Murphy was an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic (2020-23) and served as the NBA team's basketball operations analyst from 2018-20.
"Michigan is one of the premier programs in college basketball, and the opportunity to help develop student-athletes at a place with such a rich tradition and championship expectations is truly special," Murphy said about his new role. "I'm grateful to the Orlando Magic organization for eight incredible years, and I look forward to helping our players grow on and off the court while competing for championships."
As detailed by the Orlando Sentinel, Murphy took an unorthodox path to basketball coaching. He intended to pursue law school after earning a bachelor's degree in classics from Columbia University in 2012, but he instead turned his basketball blogging hobby into an assistant role with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
"I never perceived [coaching] as something that was possible," he told The Athletic in 2024. "So to say like, I want it or didn't want it, I don't think it's like the right question. It wasn't even part of my universe of options."
The Mad Ants won the G League title in 2013-14 and reached the final the following season (2014-15). Murphy then spent a season (2016-17) as an NBA G League scout with the Atlanta Hawks before a short stint as a graduate assistant with Ball State University. He has worked with the Orlando and Osceola Magic since 2018.
"I think the job of anybody in a basketball organization is to add value," he told The Basketball Podcast in 2024. "And so, for me, finding ways to leverage data, not just to describe what was going on, but be prescriptive, offer solutions, offer insights that coaches could take on the court versus to saying, 'We rank 9th in this, 11th in this. That's good information, but what do we do with that information?"
"As the game changes and as the resources in the NBA get bigger, teams want every minuscule advantage they can get. Analytics is one area where there's been a lot of growth."
Murphy joins a U-M staff under Mike Boynton that is filling three assistant positions. U-M hired Mike Martin from Brown to help run the offense; the Wolverines are also promoting KT Harrell from director of basketball operations to an on-court assistant coaching role.
The program expects to retain strength and conditioning coach Matt Aldred, assistant Akeem Miskdeen, general manager Kyle Church, analytics director Jacob Kohn, and special assistant to the head coach Brandon Gilbert.
"I feel very confident that we're going to be able to put together some really good experience from a wide variety of backgrounds that can bring different things to the table," Boynton Jr. said earlier this month of his staff. "Again, it's one of the beauties of being able to sit next to Dusty and listen to how a beautiful mind of basketball thinks is that not being afraid to try things that may be a little bit nontraditional can can lead you to some really, really cool places."