Kalamazoo Valley Names New Women's Head Basketball Coach

Kalamazoo Valley Community College is pleased to announce its new head women's basketball coach — Arom Murrell, a standout basketball player with nearly 20 years of coaching experience spanning the Midwest, South and East Coast. He joined the college on June 17.

Murrell, a Milwaukee native, comes to Valley from Milwaukee Area Technical College, where he began his collegiate coaching career in 2009. He started as an assistant coach with its men's basketball team before soon being elevated to head women's basketball coach, at which point he jointly held both roles through 2012. He then went on to coach at other colleges.

He returned to Milwaukee Tech in 2021 as an assistant coach for the women's team and resumed his role as head coach in 2022. During his second stint as head women's basketball coach, Murrell led the Lady Stormers to over 60 wins in four seasons and four consecutive Region 4 playoff appearances. His Lady Stormer program went on to produce multiple All-Region players and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Academic award winners, as well as several athletes qualifying for four-year institutions.

"I am very pleased to have Coach Murrell on board at Kalamazoo Valley to lead our women's basketball program," said Russ Panico, athletic director at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. "He brings considerable experience to the job and has a clear vision to strengthen the program and guide the team to academic and athletic success."

Murrell's head coaching journey has taken him across the country, leading the men's basketball program at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County (2014 -15) and women's basketball programs at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts (2015 -17), Quincy College in Massachusetts (2018 - 20) and Vermont Technical College (2020 - 21). In addition to collegiate coaching, Murrell has coached AAU basketball for several elite programs in the Houston, Texas, area, including Houston Flight and the Gulf Coast Blue Chips. Murrell has also served as an assistant coach and clinician with Breakthrough Basketball Camp since 2015.

Murrell is a 1988 graduate of Casimir Pulaski High School in Milwaukee, where he was a basketball phenom. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Navy and competed for the CVW-5 Airwing team from 1988 to 1991. Upon returning home, he continued his playing career at Cardinal Stritch University from 1995 to 1997 while studying business.

Murrell's first coaching role was at John Marshall High School in Milwaukee beginning in 2007. For two years, he served as head coach at the freshman and junior varsity levels, and as an assistant for the varsity boys' team.