Creighton hired Preston Murphy. Let that sink in for a minute. A guy who has spent most of his career in New England and was on his second stint at BC, just left for Creighton. It is hard to even call it a lateral move. Even if you spin it as Jim Christian wanting to get his whole staff on the same page or Murphy wanting to spread his wings and network, it still raises plenty of questions.
When Bates hired Christian, some of the obvious knocks against him were his reputation as a mediocre recruiter and his lack of ties to New England. He addressed those issues by opening up the checkbook to hire Scott Spinelli away from Maryland and bringing back Murphy. Murphy gained a lot of trust as one of the better assistants in the final Skinner seasons and only reinforced his reputation by performing well after he left BC. It seemed like this was a good foundation. Christian could build the program and be the Xs & Os and the two ace recruiters would bring in elite talent.
In the year since they were all hired, the plan had its moments. There have certainly been some big recruiting wins but also some frustrating losses. This incoming class is better than any BC Class in the last seven years, but it is still not among the ACC's best. There were still gripes that the assistants were bringing in recruits only Christian wasn't closing.
Christian's got a busy few weeks ahead of him. He still has to find some worthwhile transfers and has to replace Murphy with another good recruiter. If Murphy and Christian weren't on the same page, it is probably better to make the change now, but I hope for BC's sake Christian turns this into a positive. From here it sure seems like a crack in the wall.
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