Associate Head Coach Anthony Grant He has been a success in every venture he has taken. As a player and as an assistant coach, Anthony Grant, 40, brings a wealth of basketball experience to the Gator program, not to mention a tremendous knowledge of high school basketball within the state of Florida.
Grant, a native of Miami, finished his 10th year at the University of Florida and his 12th year overall as a top assistant under Gator mastermind Billy Donovan, celebrating over a decade of work with UF's first national title in basketball in 2006.
Grant was promoted from assistant coach to Associate Head Coach at Florida in April of 2002. He is the top aid to Donovan in all phases of coaching - from off-campus recruiting, practice planning, on-floor coaching, to scouting.
At Florida, Grant has played a key role in helping the Gators to the 2006 NCAA title, the 2005 and 2006 SEC Tournament titles, three SEC Eastern Division titles and back-to-back SEC Championships in 2000 and 2001. The 1999 and 2000 teams made the first back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in school history and the 2000 squad made UF's first appearance in the National Championship game. The Gators have reached eight straight NCAA Tournaments, capped by the national title in 2006 in which Florida became the first team since the 1968 UCLA Bruins to win both the national semifinal and the final by 15+ points. The Gators are 226-98 (.698) during Grant's 10-year stint in Gainesville.
After experiencing success in pockets throughout its history, Grant has played an integral part in the Gators sustaining success over an extended period for the first time in school history. Since the arrival of this current coaching staff, the Gators have had nine McDonald's All-Americans and four NBA First Round Draft choices. Four of the past seven signing classes for the Gators have been ranked in the top five in the nation by every major recruiting service.
Grant has routinely been mentioned as one of the top up-and-coming names in basketball coaching circles and in 2002 was identified by ESPN.com,
Sports Illustrated and
The Sporting News as one of the five top head coaching prospects among current college assistants.
Before coming to Florida, Grant was an integral part of turning around the Thundering Herd program that went 35-20 in his two-year stay.
Prior to joining Donovan=s first Marshall staff in 1994, Grant was an assistant at Stetson for one year and a prep coach in Miami from 1987-93. A former All-City first-team selection and Player-of-the-Year at Miami Senior High School, Grant returned to his alma mater in 1987, becoming an assistant under legendary coach Marcos AShaky@ Rodriguez. Grant also doubled as a math teacher at Miami Senior High. After helping lead Miami Senior to three state titles, five straight national rankings in
USA Today and an overall record of 172-11, Grant served as the head boys coach at Miami Central during the 1992-93 season.
Grant played collegiately at the University of Dayton from 1983-87, leading the Flyers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT showing. As a freshman in 1983-84, Grant was part of a Dayton squad that advanced all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out to eventual national champion Georgetown. Grant averaged 10.7 points a game and 6.5 rebounds a game as a sophomore and the Flyers again made it to the Big Dance.
The 6-5 Grant moved from big forward to small forward as a junior and averaged 7.1 points a game and 4.8 rebounds a contest while the team again advanced to post-season play, this time to the National Invitation Tournament. A team captain in his final campaign, Grant was also named team MVP after leading the squad in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.0 and 6.0 respectively. Grant finished his four-year career appearing in 105 games, while averaging 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The Flyers posted a 70-49 (.588) mark with Grant on campus.
Grant is married to the former Christina Harrell of Miami, Fla. They have three sons, Anthony, born in 1996, Preston, born in 2000 and Makai, born in 2005 and a daughter Jayda Danielle, born in 2001.
The Grant File Coaching Experience:1987-92 Assistant Coach, Miami Senior High School
1992-93 Head Coach, Miami Central High School
1993-94 Assistant Coach, Stetson University
1994-96 Assistant Coach, Marshall University
- Assistant Coach, University of Florida
2002-present Associate Head Coach, University of Florida
Playing Experience: 1983-87 University of Dayton
1987 Miami Tropics, USBL
Playing Honors: Team MVP, 1987
Tri-Captain, 1987
Sharpenter Memorial Rebounding Award, 1987
Appeared in two NCAA Tournaments and one National Invitation Tournament
Education: University of Dayton, 1987
Date of Birth: April 15, 1966
Family: Wife, former Christina Harrell
Sons, Anthony (3/28/96), Preston (5/2/00) and Makai (5/27/05)
Daughter, Jayda Danielle (8/22/01)
