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(NewsDakota.com)- After two seasons and 46 wins at Jamestown College, men’s basketball coach Matt Murken has accepted the same position at Minot State University.

Murken led the Jimmies to the NAIA Tournament this past season while collecting 25 wins. They were knocked out of the first round by St. Francis (Ind.) in heartbreaking fashion.

“Jamestown College and the community of Jamestown have been tremendous supporters of me and our basketball program,” Murken said this afternoon. “I couldn’t have asked for more from the players in my program the past two seasons. They are tremendous young men.”

Murken was offered the job earlier this week and struggled with making a difficult decision. “It was a tremendously difficult decision and I will always be a Jimmie,” Murken continued.

Minot State held a press conference yesterday afternoon around 3pm to officially announce the hiring of Murken. To view that video you can go to the Minot State athletic website.

The Jimmies lost all five starters from last year’s squad, but have brought in some solid recruits including Isiah Gandy from DI Nebraska-Omaha and Breshion Tucker who played DII ball.

Minot State is entering its first year as a full fledged member of the NCAA DII and the NSIC and are coming off a 4-25 season.

Other finalists for the job included Steve Keller of Montana-Western, Jason Henry of South Dakota Mines, and Shawn Huse from Montana St.-Northern.

Jamestown will have to begin searching for a new coach. “Matt is a fantastic coach and when opportunities like this come along you’ve got to be ready to go,” commented Jamestown College Athletic Director Lawrie Paulson. “Obviously, we wish the timing was a little different.”

The position was posted on Wednesday morning and Paulson said they would continue to take applications until they got the right guy.

The schedule kicks off for the Jimmies in late October.