Mike Murray generally is a quiet voice on UTC women's basketball coach Wes Moore's staff. But on the subject of the Tonya Craft child molestation trial, the Lady Mocs assistant is speaking loud and clear.
A close friend of Ms. Craft's - he said they met more than a year ago through Mr. Murray's girlfriend, Jennifer Sullivan - he is tracking every move of the trial. He's also following the case via the social networking site Twitter, and it's there that he's speaking out on behalf of his friend.
His posts have ranged from simple comments and observations to more passionate rants about the trial. Mr. Murray, who is 100 percent convinced of her innocence, said he's speaking on Ms. Craft's behalf because she can't, and because posting on Twitter allows him to vent.
"I was following the reporters on Twitter, and one day I just decided that I'm not going to keep my mouth shut anymore," Mr. Murray said Monday.
Before Monday afternoon, his Twitter page wasn't an official University of Tennessee at Chattanooga page, but it had "UTC" in the address and he was a UTC representative on it. He since has changed the address and removed the UTC basketball background picture to make sure that there is a distinction between his personal views and anything involving UTC, he said.
Mr. Murray said nobody from UTC told him to change the page.
"These are solely my opinions, my views, and they have nothing to do with the athletic department at all," he said.
Both Mr. Moore and athletic director Rick Hart were out of town Monday. Reached by phone, each said he wasn't aware of the details of the case, Mr. Murray's connection to it or his Twitter posts.
Mr. Hart said it is important for UTC's coaches and athletic department staff to be allowed to "be active members of our community," but at the same time be mindful of the fact that they are in the public eye and representatives of the university.
"Where to draw that line," Mr. Hart said, "I think that's a conversation that needs to take place."