Bill Murray Makes March Madness Appearance to Support Son Luke During UConn vs. Florida Game

Bill Murray has an NCAA basketball connection, and it’s all thanks to his son, Luke.

Plenty of fans had questions after the actor was spotted at the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball game between the University of Connecticut and top-seeded Florida on Sunday, March 23. It turns out his son, Luke Murray, is one of the coaches for the UConn men’s basketball team.

Bill has been a regular presence at UConn’s games since Luke took the position, but this appearance during March Madness was on arguably a much larger scale. (Luke is in his fourth year as an assistant coach for the team, who ultimately lost to Florida and is now out of the NCAA tournament. Florida advanced to the Sweet 16.)

This year also isn’t Bill’s first March Madness appearance. Back in 2017, he was on hand to root for Xavier University when the 11-seed team faced off against the University of Arizona, then the tournament’s second seed. At the time, Luke was an assistant coach for Xavier.

“Oh it was great. It was really like a great platoon movie, you know like the Dirty Dozen or something where a different guy comes in and saves everybody’s bacon. One after another, they all took turns. And gosh it was fun to see a win,” Bill said in an after-game interview with Xavier Gameday at the time.

Though his father is known for his comedic timing and sense of humor, Luke Murray is known to be more serious. He was all business in an April 2024 interview with CT Insider about one of UConn’s games.

Luke was hired at UConn after three seasons with the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team. Dan Hurley, the program’s head coach, praised Luke in the same April interview.

“I don’t know who is doing these things right now, if I’m a high-major school,” he said at the time. “Forget the lows; you can’t take those jobs. It would have to be the best mid-major job in the country for those guys to leave. We’ve got the resources to take care of them. But I don’t know how you’re the best mid-major program in the country or a high-major program and not wanting your program to look like our program right now. Because if you hire one of those guys, that program is going to look like this program.”

Luke also said that he’s enjoying his role at the school and isn’t in a hurry to become a head coach.

“I love being here, I really do,” he explained. “I love Connecticut. My family loves where we live and where we go to school and working for Coach Hurley is the honor of my lifetime, professionally. I love UConn. I love being here. So we’re just committed to doing the best job we can at UConn.”