100 Days of 100 Years of Racer Basketball

MBB: Steve Newton led Murray State to a 1988 NCAA Tournament win over NC State

Former Murray State Head Coach Steve Newton addresses Racer fans during the 2022 RacerHoopalooza event. (Photo: Murray State Athletics)

(Day #6 of our ‘100 Days of 100 Years of Murray State Basketball’ series features former Racer Head Coach Steve Newton. I had the opportunity to talk with Coach Newton back in 2020 for a project I was working on that ultimately never saw the light of day. Today, I finally unveil our conversation about Murray State’s 1988 Ohio Valley Conference championship season and the program’s first ever win in the NCAA Tournament.)

After working as an assistant coach for a total of 16 seasons at the University of New Orleans, Mississippi State and Murray State, Steve Newton was finally ready to run his own program. In mid-March of 1985, Newton was on the reported short list to become the head coach at Northwest Louisiana (now known as Northwestern State) in Natchitoches, Louisiana. That’s when Murray State Head Coach Ron Greene opted to return to his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana to take over Indiana State’s program. After watching Newton spend the last six seasons as Greene’s associate head coach, Murray State Athletics Director Johnny Reagan didn’t overcomplicate his decision to replace Greene.