Born in Mobile, Brian Murphy grew up in Pelham, Ala., and graduated from John Carroll Catholic High School in Birmingham in 2005. He played at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn., as a freshman and transferred to Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa as sophomore. Brian graduated with B.B.A. in Management in 2010 from the University of West Alabama in Livingston. He joined the SHC staff as a graduate assistant in the fall of 2012 and became the full-time assistant coach in 2014.

His parents, Francis and Nancy Murphy, both played basketball and graduated from Spring Hill College. Nancy played on first SHC women's basket team in 1977-78. Brian's grandfather, basketball coach Joseph Glen Murphy (Class of '53), was inducted into SHC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995 and played baseball and basketball at SHC. He has two sisters - Anna Murphy Bevins, who lives in Baton Rouge, La., and Caty Murphy, who attends Auburn University.