Troy University Athletics
Basketball (M)
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- grantm@troy.edu
- Phone:
- 3491
Marcus Grant enters his sixthย season as a coach at Troy and his fourthย as associate head coach in 2018-19. In his time with the Trojans, Grant has worked primarily with the post players.
In 2017-18 Grant saw two of his post playersย land in the top-10 in rebounding out of all Sun Belt players. Alexย Hicks finished tied for third with 277 rebounds (8.4 per game) and Jordonย Varnadoย grabbed 183 boards (7.0 per game), sitting him ninth.ย ย
Grant oversaw the emergence of Jordon Varnado as one of the most dominant forwards in the Sun Belt en route to Troyโs Sun Belt Championship in 2016-17 and second-ever trip to March Madness.
Varnado was named to the All-Sun Belt First Team after leading Troy in points, rebounds and blocks. It took just two seasons for Varnado to eclipse the 1,000 point barrier for his career as he is already seventh in school history with 1,021 points heading into the season.
In 2016-17, the Trojans had the biggest wins improvement in school history, the most wins in a season since 2003-04 and the third-most Sun Belt wins of all time. Troy also had the most non-conference wins since 2002-03.
Grantโs progress with Varnado started his freshman year when he averaged 13.2 points per game while grabbing 215 rebounds and blocking 37 shots on the year. Varnado was fourth in the Sun Belt in blocks per game and eighth in both offensive and defensive rebounds.
In 2014-15, Grant helped the development of forward Kevin Thomas, who averaged 10.3 points per game and came down with a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest. Thomas aย rewrote Troyโs record book as he shot 61.6 percent from the floor to rank first in Troyโs Division I historyย and second all-time.
For Thomasโ career, he shot 55.3 percent, which ranks first in Troyโs Division I history and fifth overall. On the glass, Thomas totaled 442 rebounds in his career,ย fourth best in Troyโs Division I history. He averaged 7.5 boards per game in his two seasons, ranking third in Troyโs Division I history.
Under Grant's guidance in 2013-14, the Trojans averaged 35.5 rebounds per contest. Thomas averaged 6.9 rebounds per game, which ranked sixth in the Sun Belt. The squad also tallied 78 blocks of the course of the season. Highlighting the season was a 85-81 win over Georgia State in Trojan Arena on ESPN2,ย the Panthersโ lone loss in Sun Belt play.
Grant joined the staff after spending eight seasons on staff at Mississippi State, including the last six as an assistant coach alongside current Troy head coach Phil Cunningham from 2006-12.
He began his coaching career at Mississippi State in 2004 as a coordinator of operations before being promoted to assistant coach in 2006.ย In his eight years on staff at MSU, Grant was a part of six postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Grant was a part of six 20-win seasons in his eight years on staff at MSU, two SEC Western Division championships and one SEC Tournament championship.
He was also a standout player at Mississippi State from 1991-95, helping lead the Bulldogs to the 1995 NCAA Sweet 16 in his senior season.ย During that season he was named third-team All-SEC and scored 23 points in the Bulldogsโ upset win at No.4 Kentucky, MSUโs first ever victory at Rupp Arena.
Grantโs first connection with Cunningham came during his freshman season (1991-92) when Cunningham served as a graduate assistant coach at Mississippi State.
Before starting his coaching career, Grant spent nearly a decade playing professionally in Europe, including three-times being named Eurobasket All-Finnish League Import Player of the Year.ย In his final year, Grant averaged 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in leading the Kouvolan Kouvot club to the 2003-04 Finnish League championship.
Having also played professionally in Germany (2003), Portugal (1998) and France (1996), Grantโs professional playing career began in 1995 as a member of the Atlanta Trojans of the United States Basketball League.
He also played during that first year for the Black Hills (S.D.) Posse of the International Basketball Association after participating in the Dallas Mavericks rookie/free agent camp in the fall of 1995.
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A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Grant received his bachelorโs degree in communications from Mississippi State in 1995.ย He and his wife Angie have two kids, Marcus II and Kayla.ย Marcus also has a daughter, Kendra.
