Middle Tennessee Women’s Basketball 30
Historic Murphy Center
Middle Tennessee is blessed with one of the finest basketball facilities and allaround assembly centers found on a campus anywhere. The historic Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center, completed in the fall of 1972, seats 11,520 fans for basketball and nearly 13,000 for concerts and convocations. The Middle Tennessee women’s basketball team has defended its home floor over the years with great success, posting a 357-97 (.786) overall record at Murphy Center, and a 373-100 (.789) mark overall at home, including games played at Alumni Memorial Gym.
Middle Tennessee led the nation in attendance increase in 2005-06 and ranked sixth nationally in 2006-07. The Blue Raiders were 26th nationally in attendance in 2006-07, 27th in the country in 2007-08, 33rd on the list in 2008-09, 26th in 2009-10 and 29th across the country last season, more
Murphy Center has seen remarkable growth over the last five seasons for basketball at Middle Tennessee, with the Blue Raiders increasing attendance by almost 600 percent from 745 per game to 2007-08’s 4,150 fans per contest.
than doubling every Sun Belt Conference school in average attendance for the year. The facility received a major upgrade in the summer of 2003, when the original playing surface was removed and a new state-ofthe-art floor was installed in its place. The floor was rotated 180 degrees to better accommodate television broadcasts. In 2005, the arena seating area was upgraded. All of the old chairs, which had been in place since the venue opened, were replaced with blue chairback seats in the lower bowl. Before the start of the 2007-08 season, a pair of Daktronics video boards, one on each end, were added to Murphy Center, giving fans an enhanced view of the action on the court. A new playing floor was in-
stalled before the 2009-10 season. Constructed in a perfect square, 320 feet on each side, Murphy Center’s exterior features a unique “window-wall” which gives it an appearance distinctly its own. The interior has three levels containing Monte Hale Arena (the main playing floor); a six-lane track; offices for both the Athletic Department and the Department of Health and Human Performance; two auxiliary gymnasiums (including the basketball practice facility); dance studios and handball/racquetball courts; a weight room; a training room; dressing facilities; and classrooms. The building is named for Charles M. (Bubber) Murphy, who coached Blue Raider football from 1947 through 1968, and was the University’s athletic director for an even longer time. The main playing arena is named in memory of the late Monte Hale Sr., longtime radio personality and executive who delivered play-by-play of Middle Tennessee basketball and football games for many years as “The Voice of the Blue Raiders.” Murphy Center has hosted a wide variety of events over the years, including NCAA Regional and Ohio Valley Conference basketball tournaments, University convocations and commencements and innumerable concerts featuring the best known personalities of the entertainment world such as Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Bruce Springsteen, U2, the Judds, Garth