Newton had a 13-year association with Murray State, including six years (1985-91) as head men’s basketball coach. Newton’s teams compiled an overall record of 116-65 (64.1%), a Conference mark of 43-7 (86%) and won four OVC regular season and three OVC Tournament titles. Newton-led squads played in three NCAA Tournaments (1988, 1990, and 1991) and were most famous for the 78-75 upset of Jim Valvano and North Carolina State in the 1988 Tournament, a win that marked the Racers first and only win in NCAA Tournament history. Murray State would lose to eventual national champion Kansas by three points in the second round; that game was KU’s closest in route to the championship.
His 1990 Racer squad pushed No. 1 seed Michigan State into overtime in the NCAA Tournament, a game that still marks the closest a 16-seed has come to topping a No. 1 seed. Newton led the 1989Murray State team to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). He was named OVC Coach of the Year twice (1988, 1990) and recruited and coached 15 All-OVC and four OVC Player of the Year selections, including Racer great Ron “Popeye” Jones. Newton would later go on to coach and work in administration at the University of South Carolina before serving as Director of Athletics at the University of Southern Indiana (1995-01) until his retirement.