Jean Gordon "Gene" McMurray (July 25, 1902 â January 2, 1971) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at Milligan CollegeâÂÂnow known as Milligan UniversityâÂÂin Milligan College, Tennessee, from 1929 to 1931 and East Tennessee State CollegeâÂÂnow known as East Tennessee State UniversityâÂÂin Johnson City, Tennessee, from 1932 to 1946. McMurray was also the head basketball coach at East Tennessee State from 1933 to 1947.
A native of Huntington, Indiana, McMurray was a graduate of Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. He earned a master's degree from Peabody College and Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in physical education from New York University. McMurray resigned from his coaching post at East Tennessee State in 1947 to head the physical education department at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). He died on January 2, 1971, in Oxford, Mississippi, after an apparent heart attack.