Anthony Grant hired as head coach at Dayton, his alma mater

Dayton announced Thursday the hiring of alum and former VCU and Alabama head coach Anthony Grant as the Flyers’ new head man. Grant has been in the NBA the last couple seasons as an assistant for Billy Donovan at OKC.

In Grant, Dayton gets an experienced head coach and someone who already knows what Dayton basketball is all about. Originally from Miami, Grant played four seasons under Don Donoher in the mid-80s. His coaching career started right after graduation, returning to his home city to coach at the HS level.

He was hired to Billy Donovan’s staff at Marshall in 1994 and would stay with the head coach for ten seasons, moving with Donovan to Florida in 1996. He was in Gainesville when the Gators won the 2006 NCAA National Championship, leaving after the season to become the head coach at VCU – the Gators would repeat as champions in 2007 with largely the same roster that Grant helped put together.

“Anthony Grant is a proven winner with the highest integrity,” said athletic director Neil Sullivan. ‘He has successful experience in coaching, recruiting and playing basketball at an elite level. He is absolutely the right coach.”

In his nine seasons as a head coach – first at VCU then at Alabama – Grant has been to three NCAA Tournaments, four NITs and won the CAA regular season title three times. He returns to Dayton with more head coaching experience than any of his predecessors, most of whom came to UD with no prior DI head coaching jobs. This includes previous coach Archie Miller, who was hired at Indiana last weekend after leading the Flyers to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.