Michael Grant Hired As Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
8/18/2005 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 18, 2005
TOLEDO, OH - University of Toledo basketball coach Stan Joplin announced the hiring today of Michael Grant as the Rockets' assistant coach. As a former head coach, Grant brings 20 years of collegiate coaching experience to Toledo and replaces James Stafford on UT's coaching staff following Stafford's departure in June to take an assistant coaching job at Florida Atlantic University.
"Michael will come in and give us a different perspective with his prior experience as a head coach," said Joplin. "We were looking for someone with some head-coaching experience and at this level that's sometimes hard to do. I've interviewed Michael before and he's always been on our radar. He did a very nice job in some tough conditions and he wore a lot of different hats during his time at both Southern and Central State."
Grant, 42, comes to Toledo following a pair of head-coaching stints at Southern (LA) University and Central State (OH) University. At Southern, Grant inherited a program that had back-to-back 20-loss seasons for the first time in school history, and proceeded to post a 26-31 win-loss mark in his two seasons at the helm. The Jaguars went 14-15 in 2004-05 for their best finish since the 1999-2000 season and reached the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament semifinals for the first time since 2001.
During his seven-year tenure at Central State, Grant posted a 126-94 (.573) ledger while turning a program around that posted just one winning season in its previous 11 campaigns. His Marauder career was highlighted by three appearances in postseason play, including trips to the NAIA Regionals in 1998 and 1999 and to the NAIA Nationals in 2000. He posted three 20-win seasons with his best campaign being a 24-8 ledger in 1999-2000, including the school's first victory at nationals since 1979.
"I believe the opportunity to join the Rocket basketball program is a great situation for me," Grant said. "I've known Coach Joplin for a long time, and I'm happy and lucky to be a part of a program that has an exciting future."
Grant began his coaching career at his alma mater, Malone College, in 1984 immediately following his playing career. He then spent two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Michigan where he helped coach his younger brother, Gary. During this time, Gary was named the 1988 Big Ten Player of the Year and was the 14th player picked in the 1988 NBA Draft. Grant then served as an assistant at Allegheny College (1988-89), Kentucky State (1989-94) and Cleveland State (1994-96) before joining the head-coaching ranks.
A native of Cleveland, OH, Grant and his wife Charmane have one son, Chris (23), and two daughters, Raynesha (14) and Lauren (12).
