A pioneer in so many ways, Dr. M. Dianne Murphy blazed a trail for women in collegiate athletics, as a student-athlete, a coach and an administrator.

A member of the inaugural Tennessee Tech women’s basketball, tennis and volleyball teams, she became the first graduate assistant for the Golden Eaglettes in the 1972-73 season before branching out as a head coach.

Murphy served as the director of athletics at Columbia University from 2004 to 2015.

During her 11-year tenure at Columbia, the Lions won 30 Ivy League titles in 11 different sports, earned six Ivy League Coach of the Year honors, the men's and women's squash programs finished with their best national finishes in school history, the men's tennis program finished ranked 14th nationally and advanced to their second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16, the baseball program won its third-straight Ivy League title, and the fencing team earned the program's 14th NCAA national championship.

While at Columbia, Murphy was named to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee in February 2011. She also developed a leadership-training program for collegiate women's basketball coaches called The Center for Coaching Excellence, in conjunction with the WBCA. In 2013-14, Murphy was honored as Athletics Director of the Year by NACDA.

Murphy came to Columbia after serving six years as director of athletics at the University of Denver. Under Murphy's tutelage, she led the Pioneers through their transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. Eight Denver teams made NCAA tournament appearances, four of which would win national championships.

She also spent three years at Cornell, overseeing nine sports, marketing and promotions, sports information and alumni and booster activities as the associate athletics director and senior woman administrator. Between 1988 and 1995, she was the assistant AD at Iowa, the lead administrator for external activities.

She began her athletics administrative career in 1987-88 as the assistant athletics director at Kentucky State University. While with the Thorobreds, Murphy served chair for the school's Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and served as an associate professor.

Before becoming an athletics administrator, Murphy coached collegiate basketball for 13 years. She began her head coaching career at Shorter College as the head women's basketball coach from 1973-76, before coaching the Seminoles at Florida State from 1976-79 and closing out her coaching career at Eastern Kentucky University from 1979-86.

Murphy is active in several national organizations, including the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA), and the WBCA. She was named the NACWAA's Division I FCS National Administrator of the Year in 2008 and was selected as NACWAA's 2001 Division I-AAA National Administrator of the Year. She served as NACWAA's president in 2002-03. She was honored by NACDA in 2004 as the General Sports Turf West Athletics Director of the Year. In 2007, Murphy was also recognized with the Senior Sports Administrator Award and General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation.

In 2006, she created a leadership initiative at Tech – the Dr. M. Dianne Murphy Leaders for Life program. It was adopted by Columbia as well in 2008. The initiative provided comprehensive leadership training to student-athletes.

In 2019, she was honored with the TTU Athletics Distinguished Alumni Award, then, in 2020, was selected as the recipient of the Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

She earned a doctorate in administration and curriculum from Florida State in 1980. Prior to receiving her doctoral degree, she earned her master's and bachelor's degrees from Tennessee Tech University.

Recently retired, Murphy has returned to Cookeville and spends her free time assisting with alumni engagement efforts.