By Patrick Hayes

I linked to statements on Friday from both Eastern Michigan University and basketball coach Rob Murphy about his flirtation with a job with the Orlando Magic before ultimately deciding to stay put. Little detail is available about the particulars of why he stayed or how close he actually got to leaving, but for the present, Eastern at least gets to avoid a haphazard coaching search at an inopportune time. But what about the future? The appearance of this whole thing makes it seem like Murphy is not long for EMU. Will that potentially hurt the Eagles in recruiting?

Matt Sussman of Hustle Belt raised that point:

Other coaches are going to absolutely use this against him in recruiting. Any MAC coach can say, sure, you can play for Murphy, but he’ll probably be gone by your sophomore year.

Jeremy from Eagle Totem also discussed future implications of Murphy’s reported interest in the Magic job:

One thing is true, and it is that Murphy just made his work here at Eastern that much more challenging.  Recruiting just became more difficult, flaking out on your players is sure to be noticed by fellow MAC coaches.

The easy, cliché thing to write here would be to point out that Murphy simply has to win to make all of this go away, but if anything, winning next season might just increase the rumors that he’ll leave and give him more potential suitors. It’s not like he or any coach would choose the alternative, either, though.