Gareth Murray says his one regret from a successful basketball career was not winning any silverware with Glasgow Rocks – but will focus on that from the sidelines.
The 37-year-old from Rutherglen says it was just the right time to retire on the playing side, but reckons that will give him more of a focus on his team.
And he reckons this is one of the finest squads he has assembled at Rocks – who were last week renamed Caledonia Gladiators following a take-over – ahead of the British Basketball League season opener at home to Newcastle Eagles on September 25.
Murray leaves the team after 505 games as all time top scorer, with all time top assists, rebounds and steals to his name.
He also led Scotland to within a whisker of a bronze medal in 3x3 at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games – his third Games He also amassed 62 GB caps.
And he said: “I am proud of what I’ve achieved and the numbers and all of that are great for Glasgow, but my biggest disappointment is that we never actually won anything, that’s the biggest regret.
“But in terms of longevity, I started playing for Glasgow in 2005, so 14 seasons, 500-something games, it’s pretty good, pretty special.
“Hopefully those records will stand for a little while, but we’ll see.”
Murray says the difficult decision was made last season, and reckons it’s the best way forward for him.
“I had decided already after the season that I was going to retire after the Commonwealth Games for Scotland,” he said. “It was a little bit delayed getting put out there, just because of everything that was going on.
“Do I still feel like I could play? Probably, but I want all my focus to be on the coaching side.
“I’ve spoken multiple times over the last couple of years about how difficult it is [to play as well as coach], so I made the decision that it’s time to stop playing and just focus on coaching.
“The Commonwealth Games was a good tournament for us and we were unfortunate not to get a medal out of it, losing to Canada by one point.
“But it was the right way to go out, for me, playing for Scotland. I went through the under-16s, under-18s, I have been senior since 2006, so I thought it would be the right way to go out, after playing that. Now I can just focus on being head coach.”
Murray added: “The hardest part of playing was not being able to oversee the whole game.
“We do a lot of work during the week to prepare, but once the game starts things happen, you need to make adjustments, and when you’re in the game you don’t get to see the stuff that’s happening on the bench, or have the same feeling.
“It’s important to have more focus, and it gives me more time to only think about the game, and only think about the rest of the team, rather than having to focus on getting myself ready for the game, staying in shape, and then talking about the different, individual players.
“It has given me a lot more free time to really concentrate on the coaching part.
“I feel like I’ve got a team with a pretty deep roster this year and usually within that we have nine or 10, but this year I feel we have 13 guys.”
Murray says some shackles are off too, as he doesn’t need to worry about keeping himself in top condition for games.
He said: “We had three pre-season games there at the weekend at Paisley Lagoon and it was a different feeling.
“Before, I had to think about what I had for breakfast, make sure I don’t eat too much, make sure you’re hydrated and not hurting too much.
“I ended up getting up, having whatever I wanted for breakfast, went to Tim Horton’s and got a couple of doughnuts, have a coffee, and the whole time you’re just thinking ‘what do I want to do today, what do we want to get out of today’ and just focus completely on the coaching side, and to try and get the best out of the players.”
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