File photo Parkersburg’s Mya Barrett guards a Beckley ball-handler during a regular season contest last season at PHS Memorial Fieldhouse. Former Belpre head girls basketball coach Chris Murray was approved by the Wood County Board of Education to become the next PHS girls head coach on Tuesday.

PARKERSBURG – The Parkersburg High Big Reds’ girls basketball team is no longer rudderless.

Two months after the resignation of two-time Class AAA state championship winning coach Scott Cozzens, long-time Belpre head coach Chris Murray assumed command of the Big Reds Tuesday night at the Wood County Board of Education meeting.

The vote was approved as part of the consent agenda, 5-0.

Parkersburg High School was pleased with the confirmation, according to the school’s athletic director Chris Way.

“We’re excited to get a new era of girls basketball started under coach Murray,” Way said. “He will bring with him experience, leadership, and a desire for the girls to succeed on the court, in the classroom, and in life.”

Murray comes from a Belpre program he helped build up over the course of seven seasons. During his tenure, the Golden Eagles won 116 games and averaged 16 wins per campaign. This past season, the group advanced to an Ohio District final, but fell to Portsmouth Notre Dame, 49-35.

“What it came down to leaving it was just administrative-wise we were seeing some changes. Our athletic director left and went to another school and both of my assistants were leaving the school so with those changes it just felt like there was a really good opportunity to apply for the PHS job and see what the chances of me getting the job were,” Murray said. “It seemed like we were going to have to reset and restart what we built at Belpre. If you want to challenge yourself and see if you can build something else, you want to take that opportunity.”

Murray brings with him to PHS the experiences of facing some of the best high school coaches Ohio has to offer. His Golden Eagles and he regularly faced off against Tri-Valley Conference powerhouse Waterford and head coach Jerry Close, whose led the Wildcats to state tournament appearances in five of the last seven seasons, including a Division IV state title in 2016.

Also, under Amy Way, Belpre rival OVAC 5A Warren’s become a postseason regular and the same can be said about OVAC 3A Fort Frye under coach Dan Liedtke. In other words, Murray feels he’s ready to compete against some of the top coaches in West Virginia’s strongest conference, the Mountain State Athletic Conference.

Murray was selected from applicant list that included long-time Big Reds’ assistant Phil Wilson.

He doesn’t yet know a lot about his players or girls’ basketball in the Mountain State. But he doesn’t want people to worry over that fact. Belpre’s hosted PHS in summer league the last few years, and he viewed game film of a Huntington-PHS matchup from earlier this season. “I am just going through the process of approval,” he said.

There’s certainly work to do in Year 1. Three teams from the MSAC made the trip to Charleston for the state tournament one year ago. George Washington advanced to the second round. Cabell Midland, who bounced the Patriots in the semifinals, went on to finish runner-up to yet another MSAC group in Huntington.

Lonnie Lucas’ Highlanders bring back virtually the same team from last season, headlined by class AAAA all-state first-team player Dionna Gray and second-team player Imani Hickman.

Similarly, Matt Adkins’ Knights return all put one piece from last year’s run to the title game. All-State first-team player Autumn Lewis will be playing college basketball for Alderson Broaddus later this year. Yet, second-teamer Jazmyn Wheeler as well as honorable mentions Jayda and Rylie Allie and KK Potter are back.

However, the cupboard isn’t empty for Murray to take on his challenges. At this moment, nearly everyone from last year’s Big Red group that advanced to the regional final and led Cabell Midland in the final minutes are back. This includes all-state second-team point guard Sierra Mason, honorable mention sharp shooter Brilynn Florence, team heartbeat Kisten Roberts, and other girls who saw major playing time like Trinity Balog, Payton Harvey and Hayley McCale.

Yet, that experience they all have playing with each other goes similarly for the Highlanders and Knights. So, he knows there’s no escaping hard work.

Murray said he won’t back down from the task in the slightest.

“The MSAC is really good. But it’s still basketball and we have to go out and prepare how we would prepare for any game. We played (TVC opponent) Waterford twice a year, they’ve been to the Final Four five of the last six years, (TVC opponent) Eastern won a state championship … there’s been two schools in our league in a regional final or a Final Four eight of the nine years I have been at Belpre,” Murray said. “So, this is nothing I am not used to with big level programs. For me, it is what can we do to strategize to take things away from Huntington, Midland and everyone else. It isn’t going to be easy; those schools are really good. But so are we, we have to have the same mentality and confidence that we are really good, too.”

Murray stated he’s excited to get started. He says he wants to keep the program among the elite groups in the Mountain State.

“To meet the expectations of what Parkersburg High has set in general, we need to get back to playing good basketball in order to meet those expectations,” Murray said. “We need to get a junior varsity and freshmen team back and get youth into the program and get numbers out as well. Hopefully, there kids roaming the halls who want to come out and get excited to play some basketball.”

“It’s never easy to follow the guys who win two state titles, I am just glad there was a gap year in there for me,” he said. “There is some talent in the program and there are things the girls do really well. I am sure there will be an adjustment, but we’ve been really successful at Belpre and so if they just give us the opportunity to take that recipe and tailor it just a little bit to their needs, I think they will be really happy with some of the things they will be able to do.”

Way believes the match will be a good one.

“The goals coach Murray have aligned with what we want to accomplish. We always strive for state championships and to build a culture around the program that everyone wants to be a part of whether that’s as a player, fan, coach, alumnus, parent, or grandparent,” he said.

PHS and Murray open the season Dec. 3 against University at Fairmont Senior’s winter tournament.