A new chapter in Panther basketball officially began April 15, as Florida Tech introduced Will Murphy as the 12th-ever men’s basketball head coach. Joining him was Ashley Raley-Ross, who takes the reins of the women’s basketball program as just its third head coach, succeeding the legendary John Reynolds.
Both Murphy and Raley-Ross arrived in Melbourne from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where they served as assistant coaches at Wofford College. During his eight-year tenure at Wofford, Murphy helped guide the Terriers to two NCAA Tournament appearances, a pair of Southern Conference regular season and tournament titles, and a national Top 20 ranking following the 2018–19 season.
Raley-Ross was part of a Wofford staff that amassed 39 wins over three seasons, highlighted by the program’s first-ever conference regular season championship and a historic debut in the 2023 Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) postseason tournament.
We caught up with Florida Tech’s new basketball leaders to learn more about their coaching philosophies, what motivates them and what Panther fans can look forward to at the Clemente Center in the seasons ahead.
—Ashley Raley-Ross
—Will Murphy
Q: How would you describe your coaching philosophy, both on the court and away from it?
Raley-Ross: I think everything’s connected, and if I don’t know the player off the court, then I definitely can’t get to them on the court. I think my purpose is to help build strong young women; that’s the reason I coach. I think the bigger thing is that it’s bigger than basketball, and the world needs strong young women. So, that is my main goal. I think that translates to the court with them understanding that they’re a part of something that’s bigger than themselves, and it takes a team in order to achieve success.
Murphy: What I love about coaching is the teaching. I think basketball is extremely overcoached and undertaught. I love the “why” of things. I’m a little bit of a nerd that way. Why do we screen like this? Why do we move like this? Why is it important to get off the top here? I never get offended when players ask those questions. I live for those moments because I’m very convicted in what we’re doing, basketball-wise. When they understand the “why,” that’s when you start to get buy-in.
Q: What stands out to you about the quality of the Sunshine State Conference?
Raley-Ross: It’s competitive, and I am so excited about it being competitive. Every single night that we play and we put on the uniform and our girls take the floor, there’s going to be nothing easy. Everything’s going to be earned.
Murphy: It’s high-level. It’s better than several low-major Division I leagues, and that’s part of the excitement. I love competing, and when you look at [defending national champion] Nova Southeastern, and people say they have a top-five coach in college basketball, I want to compete against that guy. I want to compete against the Florida Southerns, the Tampas.
Q: Do you have any specific goals in mind for year one?
Raley-Ross: I don’t want to put a number on it or say I want to win 15-20 games, because I really am a firm believer in, as a player and as a coach, that if we do the little things, those numbers are going to take care of themselves. I want them to focus on the small things every single day because we have some work to do, and I don’t want to cap our success. I think all of those things will lead to us being better than what we were last year.
Murphy: We’re going to judge every season—starting next season—as a success or failure, whether we play in the NCAA Tournament. That doesn’t mean we’re going to do it next year, but if we don’t next year, then there’s no amount of success that would make me happy.
Q: Having been part of a successful midmajor Division I program, what are some qualities that you think can also work at the Division II level?
Raley-Ross: I think basketball is basketball, no matter where you are, and young people are young people everywhere around the world. But at Wofford, I just think our team really, really enjoyed playing with each other all three years that I was there, and I think that came from Coach [Jimmy] Garrity, with the team bonding that we did and within the locker room. He gave them the ability to be themselves with certain things inside that locker room. I want to take that and add my own little twist to it.
Murphy: For me, I think it started with Coach [Mike] Young. He would talk about playing “the Wofford Way,” and he talked about Wofford basketball with such respect, and it’ll be the same thing for me with Florida Tech basketball. I’m going to take a lot of pride in the way Florida Tech basketball plays. We’re going to talk about winning, and we’re going to talk about Florida Tech basketball. If you get the right group of guys, they buy into that, and then it’s a self-perpetuating source of pride.
Q: What can you tell us about your coaching staff?
Raley-Ross: Tia McMillan, my assistant, played at the AAU level for me, and so it’s been nice because there’s a lot of loyalty. There’s a lot of trust there, and she knows how my brain works before I’m able to say what I’m thinking. As a head coach, being able to say that I 100% trust who I’m working with is a great feeling.
Murphy: My associate head coach, Zack Freesman, is a guy I’ve got a lot of respect for, having actually competed against him. We were in the same league when I was at Wofford, and he was at Western Carolina. They did a great job at Western Carolina, turning around a program in a tough league. I’ve been really, really impressed with Mekhii Noble ’23 in the short amount of time I’ve gotten to know him. He’s a former Panther player, and he has a lot of pride for this place. I think that’s important. He was an excellent player here. He has that level of respect with the guys, and in recruiting, he’s someone we can point to and say, ‘Here’s a guy who did it here.
Q: It seems as if there are many different ways to win in college basketball these days with regard to roster construction. What approach do you want to bring to your programs?
Raley-Ross: Well, at Wofford, it was a little different because Wofford doesn’t have a grad school, so it was really tough playing in the portal. But I think here, I’m open to transfer-portal freshmen. I think this year might look a little different recruiting-wise than it will in the future. But you know, I just think the most important thing is that we are coaching good young women.
Murphy: I can be adaptable. I pride myself on whatever your model is, it has to fit the school and what the school recruits. Because what I do care about is retention, and retention is an issue everywhere—but there needs to be a hook. I want kids who want to come play basketball at Florida Tech, but there needs to be another reason they’re here, too. Now that could be the education or the location or whatever, but it has to be something else. Because if the only reason you’re going to a school is because of the basketball program, then there’s always a shinier option.
Q: What takes up your time away from basketball?
Raley-Ross: Well, I will say there’s not much time away from the game for me. My husband [Brandis] plays professionally overseas, so I spend a lot of time watching his games. Away from basketball, I really like to shop, and I enjoy going to the beach. That has been a huge plus here, at Florida Tech. But basketball is life for me, and it’s been that way since I was four, so I love it.
Murphy: “I don’t unwind” is the short and probably honest answer. I think anybody who knows me know I’m always moving, I’m always doing something. It’s not 24/7 basketball either. I love to golf; I mess around with the guitar. I’m always doing something. I’m a huge pacer; I’m always walking. You’ll rarely find me—unless I’m watching film—just sitting at my desk in my office.
This piece was featured in the fall 2025 edition of Florida Tech Magazine.
