Tag: Grant McCasland

Report: Texas Tech to extend basketball coach Grant McCasland

After one season, Grant McCasland is getting a new contract.

According to insider Jon Rothstein, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are extending current men’s basketball head coach Grant McCasland. Per the report, the new contract would run through the 2029-30 season.

McCasland is coming off his first season in Lubbock where he led the team to a 23-11 overall record and 11-7 in Big 12, good enough for third in the basketball-heavy conference.

Despite the Red Raiders getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the school is committed to McCasland. There was a time when some believed that the head coach would leave after one season when Scott Drew to Kentucky rumors started to circulate. However, according to McCasland, he was never going to leave Lubbock.

“The honest part is I just didn’t see any way, shape or form there would be a way we would leave Texas Tech,” McCasland said, “and I don’t think it would have mattered what the school was in the world.”

His loyalty seems to be rewarded. The 2024-25 college basketball season tips off in less than a month when Texas Tech hosts Bethune-Cookman at United Supermarkets Arena on Nov. 5. The first Power Five matchup features the renewing of an old conference rivalry when Tech hosts the Texas A&M Aggies on Dec. 8.

Micah Shrewsberry selected as assistant for U.S. junior national team

Congrats, Coach!

[autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] is trying to remake Notre Dame into a winner, and he’s going through a tough road in doing so. But don’t think his coaching abilities haven’t gone unnoticed, specifically by USA Basketball. His reputation is solid, and it likely was among the many reasons he has been picked as an assistant coach for this year’s U.S. men’s junior national team.

Shrewsberry will be part of the staff to lead the U.S. during this year’s FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup, the date and location of which have yet to be determined. Leading the staff will be Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, and Shrewsberry’s fellow assistant is Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland.

This is Shrewsberry’s first experience as a coach for a U.S. national team. He was a court coach with the U19 team a year ago. That team included Vanderbilt forward Ven-Allen Lubin, who transferred from Notre Dame after one season.

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Report: Texas Tech becomes last Power Six school to fill head coach vacancy

Texas Tech brings Grant McCasland back to the Big 12.

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.

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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Texas Tech is on North Texas watch as NIT resumes Tuesday

Tech could inch closer to hiring their head coach with a UNT loss on Tuesday.

The [autotag]Texas Tech Red Raiders[/autotag] are among three Power programs that have yet to make a hire for their men’s basketball program. The California Golden Bears and Penn State Nittany Lions are the other two.

Penn State became available when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hired Micah Shrewsberry away after two seasons in Happy Valley. It could be that both Texas Tech and Cal are looking at head coaches currently competing in the annual NIT Tournament. The Golden Bears could have Mark Madsen of Utah Valley on their shortlist.

For the Red Raiders, we put together a list of notable names they could target with one clear No. 1 target in mind. That name is Grant McCasland of the [autotag]North Texas Mean Green[/autotag].

McCasland and North Texas are set to take on the Wisconsin Badgers at 6:00 p.m. CT from Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Should the Badgers knock off the Mean Green in the NIT Semifinals, then the Red Raiders and athletic director Kirby Hocutt could make their move.

Recently Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported that McCasland was the top target for the job. As we previously noted, he has experience in Lubbock as the director of basketball operations with the Red Raiders under James Dickey from 1999 to 2001.

He spent most of collegiate coaching career with the Baylor Bears under head coach Scott Drew. He also played for the Bears from 1995 to 1999. He led Midwestern State to two Division II Elite Eight finishes in his first shot as a head coach from 2009 to 2011.

McCasland led North Texas to the CBI title in his first season and upset Purdue in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. He has led UNT to the NIT in each of the last two season. Last year they were knocked out in the second round and this year they are among the final four teams still alive. In both seasons they have won 25 or more games.

McCasland knows the Big 12 landscape and basketball in the state of Texas. A win tonight would only seem to prolong the inevitable. The longer that UNT remains in the tournament the further that Tech will get behind on recruiting players and working on landing top prospects currently in the transfer portal.

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Report: Grant McCasland emerges as the top target for Texas Tech job

Another Power Six program could be closing in on a head coach hire.

We could be closing in on another Power Six program filling their head coaching vacancy.

Per Jeff Goodman of Stadium, current North Texas head coach Grant McCasland has emerged as the top target to replace Mark Adams.

McCasland has a history in Lubbock after serving as director of operations for head coach James Dickey from 1999 to 2001. He is familiar with coaching in the Lone Star state after starting his coaching career with Midwestern State at the Division II level.

He led them to two DII Elite Eight appearances in two seasons. McCasland was 55-12 in two seasons. After spending six seasons as an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor he made a one-year stop at Arkansas State before taking over the North Texas men’s basketball program in 2017.

Overall, McCasland is 205-89 as a head coach, including his 130-65 mark in six seasons with the Mean Green. The former Baylor guard has produced five 20-plus win seasons at UNT. On Tuesday night, McCasland and the Mean Green are set to take on Oklahoma State in the NIT.

We will continue to monitor the coaching carousel as it relates to college basketball and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

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Who could replace Mark Adams at Texas Tech? 10 names to consider

With the news that Mark Adams is out at Texas Tech, we put together a list of 10 names to consider as the next Red Raiders head coach.

On Wednesday night the Texas Tech Red Raiders men’s basketball head coaching job became vacant following the announcement that Mark Adams would resign.

This came off the heels of Adams’ suspension for racially insensitive comments to the team. Now with Adams stepping aside, this will put Tech back in the head coaching search. Adams was named head coach after Chris Beard left for the Texas Longhorns. Less than two years later, both teams could make huge changes.

Rodney Terry has done an outstanding job since being named interim head coach but John Calipari has been linked to the job. It remains to be seen how that will all play out. As far as Tech is concerned they can begin their search for the next head coach.

College Sports Wire has a list of potential candidates.

LSU basketball coaching search rumors: Tigers reportedly targeting 2 candidates

The Tigers’ search reportedly centers around Murray State’s Matt McMahon and North Texas’ Grant McCasland.

LSU’s season is now over after the team’s disappointing loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a No. 6 vs. No. 11 upset against Iowa State.

That means that the focus can now shift entirely to replacing Will Wade, who was fired on March 13 ahead of the Tigers’ postseason. It’s well known that athletics director Scott Woodward likes to make big, splashy hires, but that may not be so easy this time around.

The basketball program doesn’t carry the same level of prestige that football does, and that’s before you take into account potential impending NCAA sanctions. It seems unlikely that LSU will be able to sway a proven head coach from a power conference team, and it makes sense that per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, the search is now centering around two mid-major prospects.

LSU is the biggest job left on the board, although potential NCAA sanctions have likely dissuaded some of the big-name options from getting involved. One seemingly far-fetched rumor that won’t go away is Tony Bennett going to Baton Rouge, but sources close to Bennett have maintained all week there is nothing of substance to it. Two names that have emerged as potential options for athletic director Scott Woodward are Murray State’s Matt McMahon and North Texas’ Grant McCasland. As the clear-cut best job still available, LSU can afford to take its time and still have a free run at its preferred candidates.

Given the fact that Bennett is in a great situation in Charlottesville, it’s not exactly surprising that the long-time Virginia coach isn’t looking to jump ship for a job that could come with NCAA limitations.

McMahon and McCasland both make a lot of sense. The former has three NCAA Tournament appearances with the Racers (which would have likely been four, had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic) while the latter made it to the second round of March Madness last year and led his team to the NIT this year. The Mean Green fell in the second round to Bennett’s Cavaliers.

On Sunday, Stadium’s Jeff Goodman also reported that McMahon was “in the mix” for the Tigers gig.

With several jobs around the country beginning to fill, Woodward may be feeling a greater sense of urgency to get things done. Still, as Borzello mentions, LSU is the best job still available and should be able to dictate the terms in the coaching market, even with the ongoing NCAA situation.

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