Suzanne Coffey knew she had a winner the moment Jim Murphy arrived at his job interview in 1994. She also knew that winning, in the context of Bates College women’s basketball, was relative.

Triumphs outnumbered defeats at the end of only nine seasons in the program’s history. The previous three coaches were one-year-and-done. Imagine Coffey’s delight when the dream candidate called.

“His passion for Bates stood out,” said Coffey, the college’s athletic director. “He is the greatest ambassador for the college I could imagine.”

The moribund NCAA Division III program that once didn’t have a prayer against the top five schools in its own state is now best in the land.

Last week’s convincing win over then-top-ranked Bowdoin boosted the little liberal arts institution that gave us Ed Muskie and Bryant Gumbel to No. 1 in the D3hoops.com national poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25.

“The players are just ecstatic,” said Murphy. “I think it’s a real difference when it happens on Feb. 8 as opposed to Nov. 8, when you’ve played 21 games and have three of the top four teams in the country within 40 minutes of each other.”

Bowdoin College reached the Division III title game last March. Twice, the University of Southern Maine has been national runner-up.

Meanwhile, the Bates athletic department enjoyed better luck with the occasional distance runner, skier or serve-and-volleyer. Then Coffey posted the Bobcats’ perennial women’s basketball vacancy.

Among the responses was a heaven-sent package from Murphy, a record-setting football quarterback who graduated from Bates in 1969. The Portland native taught seventh-grade English at Masconomet Regional in Topsfield, Mass.

“It was fun to coach and teach those kids and see how they matured by the time they became seniors,” Murphy said. “But they deserve a lot of energy, and to be very honest, I don’t think I would have that energy to give them today.”

He’d been a stellar high school coach there, too. Six appearances in girls’ basketball and soccer state championship games. Four Massachusetts Coach of the Year awards.

Hiring Murphy was a two-for-one deal for Coffey. He also took the soccer job.

“You look at his high school coaching record and it’s phenomenal,” Coffey said. “The Boston Globe recognized him year after year after year.”

Bates went 7-15 in Murphy’s first basketball season, 17-7 the next.

Four trips to the NCAA Tournament have followed, and the triumph over Bowdoin was already the 200th of Murphy’s career.

“When you come to Bates, you know you’re going to be playing some of the best basketball in Division III. You’re guaranteed to be part of the best in-state rivalries in the country,” said Coffey.

You’re also promised four years under the tutelage of a true gentleman.

Murphy is the antithesis of the screaming fool who is hired-to-be-fired in Division I. The next time he hurls invective at a referee, answers a reporter’s question with a sneer or refuses to shake a hand will be the first.

He avoids credit as if it’s the flu and he’s been denied a shot. Murphy praises early recruits Amy Taylor, Colleen McCrave, Emily King and Jolene Thurston for building the foundation. Ask him why he’s a good coach and you’ll hear about the 1960s football staff that featured Bob Hatch, Chick Leahey, Bob Flynn and Walt Slovenski.

“Bates kids are unbelievable,” Murphy said. “I’m fortunate to have kids who know academics come first. They take basketball and soccer seriously, but they know how to have fun.”

No. 1 is fun, too. More Division III schools sanction women’s basketball than any other sport, according to Coffey. Being the best means 380 programs look up at you.

“From the president all the way down through the senior staff, it’s what people are talking about today,” said Coffey. “It’s funny. Jim said to me the other day he’s just starting to realize what it’s like to be the team everybody’s got their eye on.”

If they’re smart, they’re watching the coach and taking extensive notes.

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. His e-mail is [email protected].