MONROE — Pat Murphy grew up in Mineral Point, won a national championship at UW-Platteville in 1991 under collegiate coaching legend Bo Ryan, and wound up as the head coach at Monroe in 2001. Over the next 15 years as head coach, Murphy led the Cheesemakers to a 244-159 record, four state tournament appearances including a title in 2007, and six Badger South Conference championships.

And now, five years after turning in his whistle, Murphy’s legend status in Monroe is expanded to the state of Wisconsin. On July 31, Murphy joins 28 others around the state as the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2020. 

“It’s neat for people to look back on your records and your accomplishments. Hopefully people will recognize the way our guys played,” Murphy said.

Also in the class are college coaches Bruce Webber and Brad Soderberg, and eight high school coaches, including Doug Pickarts of Barneveld, DeForest and Marshall and Tom Diener of Milwaukee Vincent, Hamilton and Cedarburg. The induction, originally scheduled for 2020, is now on its third date.

Murphy’s father, Ron, was going to be his presenter at the Hall of Fame banquet in 2020 but has since passed away. Murphy mother, Linda, will present her son to the gallery instead.

After Pat Murphy’s stepped away in 2016, his longtime assistant coach, Brian Bassett, took over the program. Murphy hasn’t gone away entirely, either. He’s spent the last five seasons as a radio analyst with Big Radio, and often joins Bassett’s coaching staff in scouting meetings. Murphy also helps run the summer league in Monroe that features teams from a variety of youth and high school levels from around southern Wisconsin. He also coordinates the annual alumni tournament.

“I love the alumni tourney because you get to keep seeing these guys,” Murphy said. “You are just thankful for these relationships that you’ve built.”

When Murphy took over the Cheesemakers for the 2001-02 season, the program was coming off a 1-win campaign. Murphy said he sensed a hunger to win on the basketball court from his players — despite being told that Monroe was a “football town.”

“I could just tell Monroe was hungry to win. Great parents; great players; the fans were cool and so supportive. A lot of things had to line up at the right time in order for it all to work,” Murphy said. 

Murphy brought Bo Ryan’s Swing offense, a large change from the previous administration in Monroe. It may only be coincidence that Ryan’s ascension from UW-Platteville to UW-Milwaukee and eventually Wisconsin added to the buy-in of the players, parents and those in the youth program of what Murphy was bringing to the table.

“The youth coaches were teaching the Swing, and it didn’t hurt that Bo was at UW, which added some credibility. But I think (the Swing) fit our guys and we were able to implement special plays as needed. The offense was always flexible, and the defense was always our number one goal — half-court man-to-man and maybe some occasional pressure, but you know, again, some guys buying in,” Murphy said.

In his third season, Monroe won the regional championship, beating Madison Edgewood for the first time ever before losing in the sectionals to Dodgeville on his old home court at Mineral Point. The next season, despite graduating nearly his entire starting lineup and rotation, the Cheesemakers reached the state tournament for the first time since 1991. 

“We kind of knew what we had there because of what we saw in the summer. Kyle Foulker was a great captain, Ryan Young could shoot the heck out of it, Nathan Scott showed a toughness inside — there were just so many guys up and down the roster; the top five, the top eight, the scout team,” Murphy said. 

The 2004-05 Monroe squad won the program’s first conference championship since 1998, and made the first of four trips to the Kohl Center in a five-year stretch. The 2006-07 team Monroe won it all, the first gold ball for the Cheesemakers in 42 years. Monroe made it back to state in each of the next two seasons, with a runner-up finish in 2009.

During that stretch, the Cheesemakers won five straight conference titles despite routinely having one of the smaller enrollments in the Badger each year.

“Playing in the Badger made us coaches better, and our players better all-around. You don’t really sneak up on people in the Badger — if you are winning conference titles in our league, you know you’ve done something really special. We always thought that if we won a conference title, we’d have a shot at state,” Murphy said. “The nice thing about our program is that the guys knew it was their time and stepped up. A lot of credit goes to Dale Buvid, who was the constant JV coach and was toughening players up every day

Buvid, also a WBCA Hall of Famer, played an integral part in the program’s development of players and preparing them for varsity action. In fact, Murphy credits all of his coaches over the years — from freshman squads to volunteer assistant coaches — for the growth of the program.

“Brian Bassett, Ken Gratz, Dale Buvid — lots of different freshmen coaches, like Jerry Tordoff, Ken Carver, Mike Flanagan and Dustin Huffman,” Murphy said.  “Coaching can be a very lonely and isolating job so it is essential to surround yourself with coaches that are in it for the right reasons and I was truly blessed to have some great ones.”

When Monroe Athletic Director Kevin Keen interviewed Murphy for the gig 20 years ago, he asked if Murphy planned on moving to Monroe.

“I said yes, I want this to be my home. For 20 years, it has been. It’s a bigger version of Mineral Point — it’s got so much to offer,” Murphy said. “The people are so kind. For me, my family — both my kids graduated from here — we’re just so thankful that Monroe opened their arms up for us.”

Murphy continues to teach special education at Monroe High School. He was able to coach his son, Austin — which continued a Murphy-family tradition. Pat played football under his father, Ron Murphy, at Mineral Point. 

“The three most inspiration coaches in my life were always my dad, I’m going to miss not having my dad there at the banquet; Bo Ryan; and my high school coach, Jim Bennett. I was lucky to grow up and have some great examples of people doing it the right way,” Murphy said. “All three guys brought a level of toughness and discipline to their teams. I just tried to carry that on to, and I’m thankful that our guys, our parents and our administration all bought into that, too.”

The Hall of Fame induction will take place at 5 p.m. Aug. 1 at Glacier Canyon Lodge of the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells.