UCLA’s Gottfried Is Selected Murray State Basketball Coach

Mark Gottfried, a UCLA assistant basketball coach for the past seven years, has been hired as the coach at Murray State.

He takes over from Scott Edgar, who left to coach Duquesne.

“I believe that I’ve prepared myself my whole life to be standing here today,” Gottfried said at a news conference. “I’ve always felt I’ve wanted to coach--I’ve tried to study the game from a coach’s perspective while I played basketball.”

Gottfried, 31, was chosen out of a pool of 87 candidates and six finalists.

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said Gottfried is “probably the best assistant coach I’ve ever been around.

“I think Mark was born to coach. He grew up in it, he’s been around it all his life. There is no doubt in my mind he will be a highly successful head coach.”

Murray State, in Murray, Ky., compiled a 21-9 record last season and lost to North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Racers won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

“Murray State has been good for a long time--I have no intention of letting that slip,” Gottfried said. “If I can’t have an impact with young people, I don’t want to coach.”

Gottfried was an All-Southeastern Conference player at Alabama.