Marcus Grant - Men's Basketball Coach - Western Kentucky University Athletics

Marcus Grant

Title:
Assistant Coach
Alma Mater:
Mississippi State '95

Marcus Grant enters his fourth season as assistant coach on the Hilltopper Basketball staff under head coach Rick Stansbury in 2022-23.

In Grant's third season with the Hilltoppers in 2021-22, the team posted a 19-13 record and won nine of their last 10 in league action. WKU added to its Power Five wins with victories over Ole Miss and Louisville in the non-conference schedule.

During his second season on The Hill in 2020-21, WKU held a 21-8 record after claiming the Conference USA East Division title and the best regular-season winning percentage in the league. The Hilltoppers also advanced to C-USA championship game and the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals in the postseason.

In his first season at WKU in 2019-20, the Hilltoppers finished 20-10 and were set to be the No. 2 seed in the Conference USA Championship before the season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before coming to The Hill, Grant spent the previous six seasons on current WKU associate head coach Phil Cunningham’s staff at Troy, including the last four as associate head coach. Before that, he spent eight years working for Stansbury at Mississippi State.

Grant, 47, has carved out a role developing post players during his time as an assistant coach.

The Macon, Ga., native oversaw the emergence of Jordon Varnado as one of the most dominant posts in the Sun Belt Conference, which coincided with Troy’s 2017 conference tournament championship and second-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.

In 2017-18, Varnado and Alex Hicks ranked in the top 10 in rebounding out of all Sun Belt players.

The year before, 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.

In 2014-15, Grant helped the development of forward Kevin Thomas, who stamped his name several times into Troy’s record book, including records for single-season field-goal percentage and career field-goal percentage.

Grant came to Troy after spending eight seasons on staff at Mississippi State, including the last six as an assistant coach from 2006-12 with Cunningham as a fellow assistant and Stansbury as the head coach.

Grant began his coaching career at Mississippi State in 2004 as a coordinator of operations before being promoted to assistant coach in 2006. 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. He was named third-team All-SEC and scored 23 points in the Bulldogs’ upset win at No. 4 Kentucky, MSU’s first ever victory at Rupp Arena.

Before starting his coaching career, Grant spent nearly a decade playing professionally in Europe, a three-time Eurobasket All-Finnish League Import Player of the Year. 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), Grant’s professional playing career began in 1995 as a member of the Atlanta Trojans of the United States Basketball League.

He also competed in his first pro year for the Black Hills (S.D.) Posse of the International Basketball Association after participating in the Dallas Mavericks rookie/free agent camp in fall 1995.

A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Grant received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Mississippi State in 1995.

He and his wife Angie have two children, Marcus II and Kayla. Marcus also has a daughter, Kendra.