CSU hires assistant volleyball coach from E. Tenn. St.

Coach Tom Hilbert filled the open position on his CSU volleyball staff Tuesday with the hiring of assistant coach Luke Murray.

Murray, 28, spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at East Tennessee State, where his primary duties were to coach the setters and serve as the program’s recruiting coordinator. The Buccaneers made the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history in 2012 and last season went 22-9 overall and won the Atlantic Sun Conference’s regular-season title.

“Luke is somebody who is mature beyond his experience in college coaching,” Hilbert said in a news release announcing the hire. “I view the hiring of him the same way I recruit. I think he’s somebody who has great potential. He has the desire to excel in this field, and from all accounts from the people I've talked to, he's an extremely hard worker.”

Murray replaces Matthew Botsford, who resigned Feb. 10 after two seasons with the Rams to become the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast.

Murray will work primarily with Colorado State University’s middle blockers, Hilbert said, while also serving as the scouting coordinator. He’ll also have a significant role in recruiting.

Murray is a native of Washington, Pennsylvania, and played volleyball collegiately at Penn State, earning second-team All-American honors as a setter on the Nittany Lions’ 2008 national championship team.

“It’s an honor for me to work under Tom and to be part of a program that has such a rich history,” Murray said in the news release. “Colorado State volleyball is a big name on the national level, and I’m excited to be part of it.”

CSU went 28-2 last fall while winning its fifth consecutive Mountain West Conference title. The Rams have advanced to the NCAA tournament for the 19th consecutive year.

Hilbert originally hired Georgia Tech assistant Chuck Crawford to replace Botsford, but Crawford resigned a month later because of concerns about moving his family to Fort Collins from Atlanta. His wife, he said, was having a “high-risk pregnancy.”

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