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Portland State officially welcomed Sherri Murrell as the 10th women’s basketball head coach in school history at a meet-and-greet gathering in the Morrow Team Room, located in the Peter W. Stott Center, Monday afternoon. Director of Athletics Torre Chisholm introduced Murrell to a gathering of media, boosters and faculty and staff members.

Murrell, 39, replaces Charity Elliott, who resigned after three seasons to take the head coaching position at UC San Diego.

“When we were put in the position to hire a new coach, Molly Moore, our Senior Women’s Administrator, and I sat down to talk about what we wanted in a coach,” Chisholm said. “Obviously, we wanted someone with head coaching experience, recruiting ties to the Northwest and a person that could be a great mentor.

“We definitely found all those qualities when we hired Sherri, and it’s great to have someone that is already familiar with Portland State.”

Murrell, who spent the last five years as the head coach at Washington State, was an assistant coach at Portland State for two seasons from 1996-1998 under Jenny Yopp. Murrell was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Vikings during their first two seasons in the Big Sky Conference. Portland State went 11-14 and 11-16 in the two years Murrell was with the Vikings, before she was named to head coach at the University of the Pacific prior to the 1998-1999 season. However, Portland State benefited from Murrell’s work in recruiting as the Vikings reached the championship game of the 1999 Big Sky Conference Tournament with players she recruited to the Park Blocks.

“I’m very excited to get the opportunity to comeback to Portland State,” Murrell said. “Portland is my home. I told Torre that I’m looking forward to winning championships here, that’s first on my agenda, and to get this program rolling for a long time.”

Portland State is Murrell’s fourth career head coaching position. She was the head coach at George Fox University, in Newberg, Ore., for three seasons from 1993-1996, then at Pacific, in Stockton, Calif., from 1998-2002, and Washington State from 2002-2007. Murrell will enter her first season with the Vikings with a 12-year career record of 147-193.

She posted seven straight winning seasons with the Bruins and Tigers and earned two conference coach of the year honors at George Fox.

In five seasons at the helm of the Cougars, from 2003-2007, Murrell went 27-114, however, she oversaw significant strides in a program that has not had a winning season since the 1995-1996 season. In her final three years, Washington State became more competitive as the Cougars were involved in 24 games that were decided by six points or less.

Seven players would earn All-Pacific 10 Conference honors and Washington State had its first Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week honoree in nine years during the 2003-2004 season. Murrell’s 2006 recruiting class at Washington State ranked No. 39 in the nation by Blue Star Basketball.

The Cougars the more competitive play saw an increase in attendance of 86 percent, entering the 2006-2007 season, from her first season in Pullman, Wash., in 2002-2003.

At Pacific, from 1998-2002, her four consecutive winning campaigns marked the first time the Tigers had posted four straight winning campaigns since 1993-1996. Inheriting a program that had posted back-to-back 9-18 campaigns, her first Pacific team went 14-13, including a 10-5 record in the Big West Conference, in 1998-1999. Her final Tiger team posted the program’s highest win total since 1995, registering a 19-11 mark in 2002-03 before departing for Washington State. Murrell’s final four-year record with the Tigers was 68-46.

At George Fox, then an NAIA school, Murrell compiled a three-year ledger of 52-33 and guided the Bruins to three straight NAIA Tournament appearances. She earned back-to-back Cascade Conference Coach of the Year honors following the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons. During the 1994-95 campaign, George Fox entered the NAIA top 25 rankings for the first time in school history.

Murrell also served one year as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, 1990-1991, BYU, 1991-1992 and George Fox, 1992-1993.

A native of Redmond, Ore., Murrell prepped at Portland’s St. Mary’s Academy. She was a member of the Blues’ 1985 Oregon 4A state title team. She then went on to play at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, playing two seasons before transferring to Pepperdine. As a member of the Waves, she earned All-West Coast Conference honors as a point guard during the 1989-1990 season.

Murrell graduated from Pepperdine with a degree in public relations in 1991.

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