January 12, 2016: College of Charleston head coach of men’s basketball, Earl Grant, spoke to our club this past Tuesday. Grant is the 23rd head coach at the College of Charleston (CofC). He is a product of Stall High and graduated from Georgia College in 2000 with a psychology degree. Prior to being named head coach at CofC, he worked as a coach at Winthrop, Wichita State, and Clemson and spent six years as an assistant coach under former College of Charleston assistant coach Gregg Marshall. His first coaching position was at the Citadel.
As long as he can remember he wanted to be a high school coach, but he also had always stated that coaching at the College of Charleston would be his dream job. Now in that job, he went on to describe the current state of the team.
He read a book called Group Development by Bruce Tuckman and uses this to describe the team’s development in upcoming seasons. The book outlines stages of development from Form, Storm, Norm, Perform.
When he took the job last September, it was in the midst of a storm. Most coaching positions start in April and there is sufficient time to prepare for the season. He knew of CofC’s 20 year history of success, but this was followed by a period of turmoil. He entered during the storm. He was hired as an assistant at the College of Charleston for 1 day in 2006 when Greg Marshall was offered the head coaching job, but then left the next day after Marshall declined the offer to coach.
The Cougars had a difficult year last year and only won 9 games. His analogy to fans of the program: they are on a cruise and they know the destination, but there is so much water in front of them. They know there’s a long way to go but if they look back they know they have left shore and can’t turn back. Player injuries also plagued his 2nd year.
He realizes “community” and being a part of the community is important to the team. They started doing clinics, helping in the city, helping inner city kids in order to get involved. He went on to say that the fans really make a difference in team success. He is often asked if they win more games does he expect more fans. He reverses it. Fans are important to their success and the team needs the fans to win. He wants fans to remember that after a storm the sun always comes up! Focus on the positive. He wanted to tell folks about the CofC Legacy Fund as another means of supporting the team where all contributions goes to the players.
Rotarians asked several questions of Coach Grant:
What is best lesson of coach to young men? Humility. As he tells his team, if you are not humble you can not be humbled.
Does he get involved in ticket prices/marketing etc? As coach he doesn’t get chance to be involved that way.
Who is his biggest inspiration as far as coaching? John Kresse and Greg Marshall. And, Pat Dennis, who gave him his first opportunity.
What does he attribute to the team’s chemistry coming off the bench? He attributes it to time together but also brought in team psychologist to help team improve chemistry.
— Steve Coe, Keyway Committee