Murphy Weiland one of the student managers who make everything possible for Dayton Flyers

The student managers sit at the end of the Dayton Flyers bench or just behind it, ready with stools in their hands to sprint onto the court during timeouts. Prior to games, they grab rebounds for the players and pass them the ball, enabling them to get up shots faster than they could alone. They’re ready with water bottles at a moment’s notice. They carry equipment. They mop the floor. The rack the basketballs.

In short, the managers do all the little things that go unnoticed, and in return, they get to experience college basketball from a unique vantage point. That means even more for Murphy Weiland, one of the three senior managers honored Saturday at UD Arena before Dayton’s 82-76 victory against Davidson.

A third-generation Flyer who grew up driving with her parents to UD Arena from Chicago, Weiland has been a Dayton fan as long as she’s been alive. She has a photo on her dresser of her and her sister, Kirby, wearing Dayton cheerleading outfits when they were little with the arena in the background.

“We had season tickets, so every Saturday game, we’d come down,” Weiland said. “We’d leave on Friday at 4. We’d spend the night with my grandparents, go to the game, go to church on Sunday and then come home. It was just so routine.”

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Weiland’s University of Dayton connection starts with her grandpa Norm Weiland, a member of the class of 1970. Her parents, Christopher and PJ, met at UD on the first day of freshman orientation and graduated in 1990. Her grandpa, grandma Marlene, parents and sister all walked with her onto the court on Senior Day and posed for a photo with coach Anthony Grant.

That was a moment years in the making. Weiland attended Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Ill., and worked as a manager for the girls basketball team as a junior and senior, keeping stats during the games. She didn’t plan to attend UD even with her family’s connection and her love of the Flyers but fell in love with the campus on a visit and didn’t plan to pursue another manager’s job but was convinced by her mom to give it a try.

Happy #ManagerAppreciationWeek to our incredible @DaytonManagers ✈️🏀#GoFlyers // @DaytonMBB pic.twitter.com/HtUMKkzPSa
— Dayton Basketball (@DaytonMBB) February 28, 2022

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Weiland sent a letter to Grant when she was still in high school. She mentioned her UD background and managing experience and asked how she could get involved. She got a response from a graduate assistant, Matthew Sweet, who told her how the application process worked.

Once on campus in the fall of 2018, Weiland interviewed with Dayton assistant coach Darren Hertz, grad assistant Sean Damaska, who is now the video coordinator, and Sweet. The next step was a tryout, where a group of seven prospective managers worked practices, competing for five spots among a group of 16 managers. Weiland showed up having no idea she’d be the only woman.

The first day did not go well.

“I was so unprepared,” Weiland said. “I didn’t know any of the guys’ names. I didn’t know any of the coaches’ names.”

There were things Weiland wasn’t allowed to do, such as go in the locker room, because she was a woman, and she wondered what she could do. She felt overwhelmed and told her mom after that first practice she didn’t plan to return. Her mom convinced her to give it another try because it was good experience for whatever she might face in the future.

“I went back the second day,” Weiland said, “and it was 100 million times better.”

Hertz noticed her struggles on the first day, she said, and adjusted the plan for her, telling her she wasn’t here to hold a mop but to keep stats. That’s how she started tracking defensive efficiency ratings in practice. It’s what she still does now. Another manager, Matt Weckesser, taught her how to do it.

“That man deserves a gold medal for sitting next to me for three years,” Weiland said.

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Weiland learned to assign points based on the results of every defensive play. By midseason, she could calculate the numbers fast enough to shout them out if Grant asked for them in practice.

“They definitely realized that was my niche,” Weiland said. “I had something to prove without a doubt in my mind.”

While Dayton had women student managers in the past, Weiland was the first to earn the right to travel with the team to away games. She also had to learn to “code” games, breaking down film into different segments: offensive plays; defensive plays; zone defense; man defense; foul calls, etc. It was a huge learning curve because she had watched many Dayton games as a fan throughout her life but never with the mindset of a coach or player.

Weiland felt the pressure to figure it out in case any women followed her path in the future, and she did. She’s been a fixture at home and away games this year and joined fellow senior managers Patrick Edwards, of Pittsburgh, and John Miller, of Lancaster, Pa., on the court during the Senior Day ceremony. They’ll be at the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament this week. The team left Dayton on Wednesday and will play at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Friday.

The managers have many duties, Grant said, and aren’t often noticed on the court unless something goes wrong, but they make what the coaches and players do possible. Weiland, he said, has been terrific.

“She’s been a part of the program for a long time,” he said. “From the first day she walked in, she kind of indoctrinated herself into doing whatever she can to help. It’s been great having her with us.”