By KEVIN BROCKWAY and BRANDON ZIMMERMAN
Sun sports writers
www.GatorSports.com
June 1st, 2007
Florida's search for a new men's basketball coach will begin with Anthony Grant.
Gators athletics director Jeremy Foley is expected to meet with Grant on Saturday regarding the head coaching position, sources close to the situation told The Sun.
Grant was an assistant under Donovan for 10 years before taking the head coaching job at Virginia Commonwealth prior to last season. Grant led the Rams to a 28-7 record and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Donovan gave Grant a strong endorsement when asked about who his successor should be Friday morning at his introductory news conference in Orlando.
"The one guy I feel very strongly about is Anthony Grant," Donovan said. "When you look at the success we were able to have at Florida over the last 11 years, he was a very strong instrument in that success because he was there 10 of the 11 years I was there.
"But this is really the University of Florida's decision. It's Jeremy's decision. Jeremy knows Anthony very well."
Foley will not comment on the coaching search until it is completed.
Grant, 41, served as Donovan's top aid in all phases of coaching, including recruiting, on-floor coaching, scouting, and practice planning at Florida before taking over the VCU program last season. Grant played a key role in helping the Gators to the 2006 NCAA title, the 2005 and 2006 Southeastern Conference Tournament titles, three SEC Eastern Division titles and back-to-back SEC Championships in 2000 and 2001.
The 1999 and 2000 teams made the first back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in school history and the 2000 squad made UF's first appearance in the National Championship game.
The Gators have reached eight straight NCAA Tournaments, capped by the national title in 2006 in which Florida became the first team since the 1968 UCLA Bruins to win both the national semifinal and the final by 15+ points. The Gators are 226-98 (.698) during Grant's 10-year stint in Gainesville. Grant had been an integral part in the recruiting and coaching of nine McDonald's All-Americans and four NBA first-round draft choices. Four of the past seven signing classes for the Gators had been ranked in the top five in the nation by every major recruiting service.
Grant led VCU to a 28-7 record and an upset of Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this past season.
Before making the journey to Florida, Grant spent two years at Marshall, also under Donovan, helping the Thundering Herd to a 35-20 record. Grant also served as an assistant for a single season at Stetson, after wrapping up a seven-year stint as a prep coach in Miami. At the high school level, Grant's teams captured three state titles, five straight national rankings in USA Today and an overall record of 172-11.
Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Grant spent his collegiate playing career at the University of Dayton (1983-87), guiding the Flyers to a 70-49 (.588) overall mark, a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, and one National Invitational Tournament berth. In his 105 appearances in a Flyer uniform, Grant registered 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds each time out and was named the team's Most Valuable Player as a senior.
Grant is married to the former Christina Harrell of Miami. They have three sons, 10-year-old Anthony, 5-year-old Preston and Makai, 11 months. Their daughter, Jayda Danielle, is four years old.
In addition, Sporting News radio reported Friday morning that Villanova coach Jay Wright would listen if approached by Florida. Wright, 126-70 in six seasons at Villanova, has guided the Wildcats to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2005 and Elite Eight in 2006.
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2 comments:
Why would Donovan support Grant if he's a bust...I mean, come on, I would bet on Grant if I'm Machen and Foley...Just do it
Grant came into VCU after a middle of the league finish and we lost our coach and our top-scorer/all-conf player. While we did have some good players returning, it's safe to say we were mostly just hoping to not lose ground. What Coach Grant did was to take those lowered expectations and blow them up. The CAA media/coaches preseason poll picked us to finish 6th... we won the regular season with a league record for conference wins, and then we won the CAA tourney, and then we beat Duke. Needless to say we were pleasantly suprised.
I'd say the vast majority of Rams fans wish Coach Grant the best whatever he chooses, and we do not begrudge him a grab at the brass ring... lord knows he has more roots with your program that ours (if he was leaving for some other program we'd resent it A LOT more).... all that being said... we sure as hell would like to keep him if we could, so we would like to encourage Jay Wright to go to Gainsville;)
Anyway, thanks for at least letting us borrow him for a year.
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