Dot Murphy

Murphy was born to Thad, a high school football coach in Mississippi,[1] and Faye Easterwood[2] on September 20, 1952.[3] She attended Starkville High School.[4]

She played basketball at the Mississippi University for Women (MUW) as a forward.[1] In 1973, she was a starter for the United States women's World University Games basketball team that earned a silver medal at the 1973 Summer Universiade in Moscow.[1] Her roommate in Moscow was Pat Summitt.[5] She earned All-America honors in 1974.[1] In 2003, The Clarion-Ledger noted Murphy as the "greatest athlete in Mississippi University for Women history".[5] She met her husband Gene Murphy at Mississippi State University as a graduate student.[2] The couple married in 1976.[2]

Murphy was an assistant coach for the University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team in 1975–76.[4] Itawamba Junior College hired her as head basketball coach for the 1976–77 season, and she was the head basketball coach for the Mississippi University for Women from 1977 to 1982.[4] Her record at MUW in five seasons was 50–84.[6] Her position was terminated when MUW moved from Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division I to NCAA Division II for the 1982–83 season.[7]

Murphy's husband Gene was hired as defensive coordinator for the Hinds Junior College football team in 1983.[2] Dot Murphy was hired by Hinds, later called Hinds Community College,[8] as their wide receivers coach for the football program in August 1984, joining her husband on the coaching staff.[4] She became the first female football coach in National Junior College Athletic Association history.[4] The Murphys had their third child in 1986.[9] Her husband Gene was promoted to head coach in 1987.[2] Murphy was chairman of the Health and Physical Education Department at Hinds by 1994.[2] She took a year off from coaching in 1995, returning in August 1996.[1]

Murphy coached future NFL players Hason Graham and Purvis Hunt at Hinds.[1] In 1996, the TNT television program Football America aired an episode featuring Murphy.[8] She was named to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.[5] In 2000, Sports Illustrated ranked her 50th on their "20th Century's 50 Greatest Sports Figures from Mississippi" list.[10]