Dan Murray has built successful girls basketball teams at three schools over the last 26 years.

But he’s never built from scratch.

Murray is about to embark on those uncharted waters at Marmion.

Hired as a physical education and health teacher last August, Murray will be the school’s first girls basketball coach when Marmion goes co-ed for the 2026-2027 school year.

The Catholic school in Aurora has been an all-boys institution since it was founded in 1933.

“The fact that they’re starting a program from scratch was very intriguing to me,” Murray said. “It’s kind of a nice honor that you are the chosen person to start that for them.”

Murray brings a strong track record with him.

He was at Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights for 13 seasons from 2013-2025, compiling a 313-113 record with 11 regional titles in 12 postseasons, five sectional championships and a third-place finish in Class 4A in 2014.

Prior to that Murray coached at Lisle from 2010-2013, compiling a 61-27 record, and at IC Catholic Prep from 2000-2010, compiling a 162-123 record with four regional titles.

Murray received an email last year that Marmion was going co-ed. He contacted Marmion athletic director Joe Currie, and the school brought him in for an interview.

“I came in and was really kind of blown away by their vision for what they want to do,” Murray said, “their approach in terms of wanting to use my experience and my expertise in terms of giving me a lot of autonomy, how we will go about building that program and all that stuff.

“With what their school stands for, I was blown away by the opportunity when it was offered me. It was difficult to leave Marian after being there for so long and the amount of success we had, but it was an opportunity I could not pass up.”

Murray, who moved to New Lenox in October, will have a daughter attending Marmion this coming fall as part of the first co-ed class. He also has two boys in sixth and seventh grade who will be going to Marmion.

Murray said he’s been told that the expectation is Marmion will have between 50 and 60 girls at the school come fall in the freshman and sophomore classes.

Marmion will also be offering girls volleyball and girls soccer next school year, which will be JV teams.

Basketball, though, will be varsity for the first year.

“To be honest, at this stage of my career, it’s a challenge,” Murray said. “At this point I have done a lot of other things.”

Murray said his whole staff is pretty much put together, chomping at the bit, ready for the players to get things started during the summer.

He noted that the IHSA board has approved for Marmion a waiver of transfer eligibility rule for next school year allowing incoming female sophomore athletes to be able to play right away.

“You get to come in as a freshman and sophomore, play varsity with the level of competition we will be playing, and you can see what the future holds for the program, what the vision is,” Murray said. “If you are a kid who wants to get a great education and play at a high level, it’s a great opportunity.”

Murray would love if he could have in the vicinity of 12 girls out for basketball the first school year.

They’ll be starting their summer workouts, 20 contact days, at the beginning of June like other programs. Marmion will be playing in the new league being formed by the merger of the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference and East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Murray already has Marmion in a Thanksgiving tournament at Galesburg and the Montini Christmas Tournament.

“You’ve seen some of the private schools go co-ed, it’s not something you can prepare yourself for,” Murray said. “I’m sure during the process we will have numerous obstacles. You try to foresee every possible scenario. Some of it, we have to be able to adjust on the fly.

“It’s also super exciting. I know some of the kids coming in, and they’re super excited. They have the ability to set the tone for the kind of program we want to have in terms of work ethic, family atmosphere, the values we’re trying to instill. We’re chomping at the bit.”