Atlantic Sun Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jul 8, 2020

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 22: Sherwood Brown #25 of the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles celebrates with fans against the Georgetown Hoyas during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 09: Head coach Murry Bartow (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) /

8. Murray Bartow – East Tennessee State (2005-2014)

Bartow was East Tennessee State’s head coach for the entire nine years they spent in the Atlantic Sun. He had played, coached under, and succeed his Hall of Famer father Gene at UAB before ending up with the Buccaneers in 2003. He coached them to the NCAA Tournament in his first season and had a new challenge waiting as the program switched leagues in 2005.

For those nine seasons, East Tennessee State did some great things in the conference. Though they won just a single regular-season title, Bartow led them to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a slew of other top finishes in the league. He won at least 20 games in four of the first six seasons and won 110 conference games during that stretch.

Bartow spent just one more season with the program before being fired in 2015 and has briefly resurfaced as an assistant coach. He actually served as interim head coach at both South Florida and UCLA in recent years, though it’s likely his head coaching career has come to an end. He had this Buccaneers program as a consistent winner during their brief stretch in the league, and there’s little more you could ask than that.

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