The idea of a new arena for then-Middle Tennessee State College was conceptualized by school President Quill E. Cope in the early 1960s, as a response to MTSC's growth. Crowds for basketball games were getting too large for Memorial Gymnasium (now Alumni Memorial Gymnasium) to hold. Original plans had called for a 7,500-seat basketball-only facility and a separate building for the athletic department offices and field sports. When Cope retired in 1967, new University President Mel Scarlett combined the two concepts into one facility and envisioned a larger arena that could accommodate sports and other events, with a side benefit being the ability to move graduation ceremonies indoors. An architect was hired in 1968, construction began on Murphy Center in 1971, and the building opened on December 11, 1972.