ANTHONY GRANT: New trails to blaze
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Anthony Grant introduced in Tuscaloosa
Former VCU head coach Anthony Grant is introduced as UA Men's Head Basketball Coach
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anthony Grant arrives in Northport, Ala. He took VCU to two NCAA tournament appearances.
Published: March 30, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Anthony Grant was Alabama's first choice to lead its basketball program.
Grant said last night that Alabama was his first choice, too.
"This is where I want to be, this is where I think we can do some special things," Grant said at his introductory news conference on campus. "I think anybody that has any drive, any passion for anything . . . what it comes down to is you want to be significant, you want to make a difference. I feel like with this opportunity at Alabama, we're in a position where we can do that, and that excites me tremendously."
Grant, 42, left Virginia Commonwealth University after three years and two NCAA tournament appearances. He returns to the Southeastern Conference, where he was an assistant at Florida on Billy Donovan's staff for 10 years.
Alabama Athletics Director Mal Moore and Executive Athletics Director Dave Hart interviewed Grant last Sunday at his home. He and his wife, Christina, took a well-publicized tour of campus Wednesday and met with Alabama's president, Dr. Robert Witt, and football coach Nick Saban.
"Really, the decision-maker is my wife in this whole thing," Grant said with a smile. "When we got on a plane to go back home, she was very excited about what she had seen and the people she had met."
Even as Kentucky fired Billy Gillispie on Friday morning, stoking reports of several coaching dominoes that could fall, Grant remained intrigued about breaking new ground in an Alabama program that is No. 2 in all-time victories in the SEC behind Kentucky.
"A lot has been talked about, just the different opportunities that were out there," Grant said. "I had a conversation with my oldest son [Anthony Jr.], and I explained to him the opportunity that Alabama presented. The opportunity to be significant, to accomplish some things that had not been accomplished, to blaze your own trail."
He called Hart and accepted the job Friday morning.
Grant will bring an up-tempo style to a team that returns four starters and already has signed a touted class of recruits.
"I think it's a fun style to watch, but more importantly, it's a style you win with," Grant said.
Grant met with the team yesterday before his press conference. One starter, freshman forward JaMychal Green, played on the United States 19-under team that Grant helped coach last summer. Green was excited about the hire but told his teammates to expect to work.
"He stayed on me a lot last summer because I was out of shape, so he just kept pushing me. It helped," Green said. "I was very excited to find out he was the coach. I'm just looking forward to playing for him and getting this season started."
Grant turned things around quickly on Donovan's staffs at Marshall and Florida.
"Our first year we took a team that was 9-18 the year before we got there and won a championship, went 18-9," he said. "At the University of Florida, we took a team that was not very talented and made it competitive. As the talent level increased, we were able to compete for championships."
Ken Rogers writes for the
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Reader Reactions
Well I think bama really jumped the gun on this deal. First of all, the Duke win is what really put VCU and Grant on the map. Not one of the players on that sqaud was recruited by Grant. Not one! Since that time VCU is 0-3 in postseason play. WOW! Does 1-3 in your career as a headcoach get you a 2 million dollar contract. He needs to pay a commission to Capel for that contract. I really don’t know how good Grant is or will be but I do know that VCU basketball has been around for 41 yrs and Grant was handed the best player in the history of VCU basketball in Maynor. I know some may argue that but he is the leading scorer ans assist in VCU history. Obviously, Capel can recruit and coach, but that fact is still a question with Grant. Let’s see how his recruits do next year. UUUUUMMMMM Maybe that’s why he left.
Grant, like Capel is now the enemy. Get over your man love for him, because he has used and forgotten about VCU now. But dont worry, he is now at the University of Saban. They promised him the world to lock him up. If Saban needs new footballs it will come at the cost of basketball or any other program of his choice.
For the record… Coach grant was very complementary towards VCU and the people in Richmond at the PC. You should watch the entire PC.
And you can’t forgive a guy for better than doubling his income and going where he will certainly have the ability to recruit more talent, then you have lost your objectivity.
Addendum to previous post
Frojunk - didn’t realize part of the press conference above. I listened to it earlier today so I went right past that to the article.
Frojunk - I suggest going to rolltide.com and listening to the entire press conference, or at least the first 10 minutes. Grants speaks highly of VCU and of his time here.
Tripower - Obscurity? Like Capel at Oklahoma. That’s a very questionable comment, along with the rest of your post.
I am an Alabama alum and currently a VCU grad student. I am very excited for both universities. I’m excited for what Grant will do in T-town, and what VCU will be able to do in the future.
Richmond come out of this guy’s mouth. If he thinks moving from Richmond to TUSCALOOSA is the bigtime, think again. He will fall into obscurity just like every other “former” VCU head coach.
Bama is football country, you won’t hear from this guy again until he accepts a deal with CBS to do color commentary for NCAA games.
I gotta say, I’ve been fairly positive towards Grant in my posts, but - after reading how his intro news conference went down at ‘Bama, I ask…what, you didn’t want to be at VCU? Your wife never met any good, nice people here in Richmond at VCU? I’m sure there were many quotes not included from the news conference, but it would have been nice to read something like how much you enjoyed VCU, or maybe that it was a really tough decision to leave. But I didn’t see anything like that. We know we’re not a big time destination here, but we have spirit and we really embraced this guy. I quess now I’ll mention how disappointed I was that we couldn’t beat a UAB at home in the NIT last year, or beat a W&M in last year’s CAA conference tournament, or any number of other near misses. Yes, you did something very special here, but don’t for one minute think that was all that could have been accomplished. Look at GMU a couple years ago, and VCU back in the 80’s when we used to win NCAA games yearly. Oh well, never mind. Good luck to you and yours, we’ll be fine. Let’s use this to let the powers that be @ VCU that we now expect more - better facilities, schedule, coaches, etc. Time to get over losing another coach and continue doing what is needed to upgrade the program across the board. We have some special players on that team that need to know they play for a great university, one that will do what is necessary to have a great college basketball program.
Sunday’s sports cartoon summed up my feelings.
It’s been an exciting 3 years. I just hope: 1) We keep all our players 2) Recruits still come next year 3) We find a coach that represents VCU as well as Grant 4) We get to play Alabama at home
Let’s face it, if Grant is successful at Bama and with Capel doing so well at OU, VCU could be the ultimate coaching factory. Might not be a bad thing if we continue to get coaches that have positive impacts on the program.
Let’s just find our next coach so we can get back to figuring out how we can get football at VCU.
Gee Coach, guess you were insignificant and couldn’t make a difference at VCU.
Be nice if these guys stuck around long enough to see their first recruiting class graduate. But thats not what this is really about is it? When you can walk away from your first rebuilding year (a true test of a coaches character) and inherit someone elses recruits (like 3 years ago) and cash in at the same time, why shouldn’t you? Be aware Alabama, when the Florida job comes open, Grant will be there, if you don’t fire him mid-season should he stumble. Yes I’m bitter, but with this rant, I feel much better!
Thanks Craig Littlepage for being a do nothing AD while you let a great candidate get away. He may not have been the right fit but he should have at least received an interview.
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