Northwest Notes September 21, 2010
Jones lauded for part in EWU's win
Taiwan Jones has earned Big Sky Conference and national accolades for his career-high 221-yard rushing performance in Eastern Washington's 36-27 victory over Montana last Saturday in the inaugural game on EWU's new red synthetic Sprinturf surface at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field).
The junior running back from Antioch, Calif., was honored nationally as one of five College Sporting News All-Stars for the week, and was also the FCS performer of the week at running back by College Football Performance Awards. In addition, the Walter Payton Award candidate earned Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time in his career and second time this season, having also won the award following EWU's game at Nevada on Sept. 2.
In addition, junior strong safety Matt Johnson (Tumwater, Wash., HS '07) had a big game against Montana with eight tackles and a pair of interceptions to earn Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career. His second interception versus Montana came with 7:31 left in the game after Montana had driven to Eastern's 27-yard line while trailing by three.
Eastern, 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big Sky, moved up nine spots and is ranked ninth in The Sports Network/Fathead.com top 25 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision poll. It is Eastern's highest ranking since finishing the 2007 season ranked eighth.
This week, the Eagles continue Big Sky Conference play at Montana State in a showdown that begins at 12:05 p.m. PT this Saturday.
Vandal hoops adds Murphy to staff
MOSCOW - Head coach Don Verlin and the University of Idaho men's basketball program welcomed Tim Murphy to the staff on Thursday as an assistant coach.
Murphy joins the Vandal staff with 26 years of NCAA basketball coaching experience. He was most recently an assistant with Cal Poly from 2001-09.
"My relationship with Tim goes back several years to his days at UC Irvine," Verlin said. "He brings a wealth of experience at this level to our program."
In addition to his eight seasons at Cal Poly, Murphy also served as associate head coach at St. Mary's for four seasons from 1997-2001. He also worked three years at Cal State San Bernardino, eight years at UC Irvine over two separate occasions, one year at Pacific Lutheran and two seasons at Colorado State.
Murphy's responsibility at many of his stops was post player development, as well as recruiting and scouting. He coached six athletes that went on to NBA careers and 12 more who played professionally overseas. Verlin says he's excited about the abilities Murphy brings to those areas.
Murphy is a 1983 graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in Speech Communication. He and his wife, Sheri, have two daughters, Taylor (12) and Ashley (10).