After weeks of speculation, the [autotag]Texas Tech Red Raiders[/autotag] have hired North Texas head coach Grant McCasland as the next head coach per multiple reports. On Thursday night he led the Mean Green to the NIT Tournament championship. They defeated the UAB Blazers, 68-61.
The win gave McCasland a 30+ win season as UNT finished 31-7. Over his tenure with the Mean Green, the new Texas Tech head coach never had a losing season with five of the six seasons finishing with 20 or more wins. He won the CBI in 2018 and the NIT in 2023. Overall, McCasland was 135-65 and 71-35 in conference play with North Texas.
Multiple reports indicated that McCasland would accept the offer on Thursday evening following the NIT title game.
News: North Texas beats UAB and wins the NIT. Next up: Mean Green coach Grant McCasland will be leaving UNT to accept a six-year, $18 million deal to coach Texas Tech, sources told CBS Sports.
More: UNT will promote associate HC Ross Hodge to replace McCasland, sources said.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 31, 2023
McCasland returns to the Big 12 where he was an assistant under Baylor head coach Scott Drew. He also played in the Big 12 with the Bears from 1995 to 1999. As a head coach McCasland has won 70.2% of his games with no losing seasons.
The next step will be finalizing the coaching staff and beginning to work on the putting together his initial roster. The Red Raiders have three players in the transfer portal as Fardaws Aimaq, Elijah Fisher, and Robert Jennings all entered the portal following the season. Tech has a commitment from former Georgia forward KyeRon Lindsay.
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