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North Texas hires Arkansas State head coach Grant McCasland

grantmccasland

North Texas has found its new head coach as the school announced that they’ve hired Arkansas State’s Grant McCasland.

The 40-year-old McCasland just spent one season with the Red Wolves as he led them to a 20-12 season and the second best turnaround in Division I basketball. A former assistant coach at Baylor, McCasland replaces previous head coach Tony Benford, who was fired after five years.

“Coach McCasland is a rising superstar in college basketball and possesses all of the qualities we desired when we began our search. He has been successful at every step of his career. He’s a proven coach and recruiter, but most importantly, he has demonstrated the ability to help young men grow and develop as people,” North Texas director of athletics Wren Baker said in the release. “We are fortunate to have a coach of his integrity and caliber leading our men’s basketball program. He and his family are from the area and understand Texas values. They will be tremendous assets to this campus and community.”

With McCasland’s Texas connections he could be a nice hire for the Mean Green. This is a program that just finished in last place in Conference USA but the state of Texas remains a huge recruiting ground and a few recruits can help change things very quickly.

McCasland doesn’t have a lot of head-coaching experience at the Division I level but I like that North Texas is taking a chance here. It might take a bit for McCasland to grow into the job but he also has a chance to turn things around.