Sierra College

Team chemistry. It’s that special foundation upon which a coach can coalesce athletic talent and determination to create victories.  At the JUCO level, where players come and go so quickly, building team chemistry is a never-ending task that requires special coaching talent.

Sierra’s Brandie Murrish and her coaching staff have championed the art of team bonding to produce three consecutive state tournament runs, including Sierra’s state championship in 2022. That team had been ready to take the court in the state tournament two years earlier when the event fell victim to COVID and was cancelled literally minutes before it was to start.

The bond that had been curated before COVID remained strong even while the following season was cancelled. Sierra’s team stayed together, waited out COVID, and finished what they had set out to do two years earlier, winning the state title.

“That team had players who had offers from four-year schools, but they wanted another shot at the championship that had been taken from them by COVID,” Murrish said.  “Though we couldn’t be together on the court for 13 months, we had built that incredible bond that could not be broken, and it led us to a championship. Special team.”

Graduation in June of 2022 claimed all the key players from the championship team, but Murrish had already started building yet another winner, miraculously returning to the state finals in 2023 with a young team that had been reduced to just seven 7 players because of key injuries.

The seasons and great players come and they go, but process remains the same at Sierra:

Bond, build, win.

Murrish has created a team bond with her coaching staff too. Diane Looker, Scott Pisik, Tamar Gruwell and Tom Tran have been together for several years. Gruwell was an all-state player for Murrish in her first two seasons as Sierra’s Coach.

Coaching History:

In her first year at Sierra, Murrish was named Coach of the Year, leading her team to the state championship game. She has added several Big 8 Coaching Staff of the Year titles to program hardware totals. Her teams have compiled a 378-128 overall record with 5 Big 8 Championships, 6 trips to the Elite 8, a trip to the Final 4, a Runner Up finish in 2007 and the Championship in 2022.

Coach Murrish currently sits as the 26^th winningest coach in California Community College Women’s Basketball history.

Prior to her position at Sierra College, Coach Murrish guided Bishop Alemany High School, a premier Catholic high school in Southern California, to the CIF Division Finals in 2005-2006. Appropriately, she was named the CIF Southern Section Coach of the Year.  From 1998-2000, Coach Murrish was an Assistant Coach at her alma mater, California Lutheran University. During that time, her teams won the SCIAC championship and made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA playoffs. 
 
As Forward at Butte College, Coach Murrish was named the Butte County Sophomore Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Butte College Hall of Fame in the Fall of 2018.

While playing at California Lutheran University, she earned 1st Team All-Conference honors, was a Graduate Assistant at the conclusion of her playing career. In 2008, Coach Murrish was honored as the Alumni of the Year for her work in higher education and was one of the keynote speakers for the graduating class.

Her educational experience includes a Master’s Degree in Education, Instructional Technology from Grand Canyon University and a Master’s of Science in Kinesiology from California State University, Northridge.