Texas Tech has hired Grant McCasland as the new head coach for their men’s basketball team on a six-year, $18 million contract. The team was looking for a replacement for the former head coach, Mark Adams, who stepped down from the position on March 8 after being suspended from the school. The Red Raiders reportedly will also pay North Texas the remaining $750,000 of McCasland’s contract, as the contract was not yet over.
McCasland, who served as the Director of Operations at Texas Tech from 1999 to 2001, was thrilled to join the team, “This feels like a family reunion,” he said in his welcome event.
McCasland completed his Bachelor’s degree from Baylor, where he was a walk-on player. He later worked as the assistant coach for the Bears. While serving as the Director of Operations, he completed his Master’s degree from Tech, where he also met his now-wife, CeCe, a former Tech soccer player. Throughout his career, McCasland has been the head coach in four organizations, Tech being the fifth.
North Texas was McCasland’s 4th team as a head coach. Under his leadership, the Mean Greens won a record 15 straight games from January to March (2021-22 season), winning 16 in the following season. UNT also maintained a win-loss ratio of 0.781 in the 21-22 season and 0.816 in the 22-23 season. Their incredible performance under McCasland helped them win 3 C-USA titles and the NIT championship on Thursday.
The signing was well-received among the players and staff at Texas Tech. “You only need to watch five minutes of his game film to realize he motivates his players to play hard,” Womble said. The new head coach also visited the Womble Center, where he met the players and staff.
Tech’s athletic director, Kirby Hocutt, had this to say: “Our search committee was immediately impressed not only by Coach McCasland and his ability to win at every level of college basketball, all while creating a positive culture built upon toughness, but also his passion for Texas Tech and his vision for our basketball program.”
McCasland has been serving as the head coach of North Texas for the past six seasons, with a record of 135-65. Under his leadership, the team led the nation in scoring defense with an outstanding 55.8 per game in the 22-23 season, which was only behind UNT’s 55.7 the season prior in the history of C-USA. The Mean Greens currently sit at the top of the table regarding defense scoring, while the Red Raiders are 139th in that list with a 69.0 average.
There is a lot of speculation as to what changes McCasland will bring to the Red Raiders. While at UNT, McCasland had a defense-first approach. As evident by his team’s defense scoring records, similar results can be expected of the Red Raider in the coming season. The Mean Greens defeated the Cowboys 65-59 in overtime in a National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal, the same team that Texas Tech has lost twice against this season.
