Grant's Press Conference
- Thread starter RDriesen
- Start date
In a nutshell you just nailed who Anthony Grant is.
Here are my thoughts on the press conference.
- It was a great press conference (and interview after) by Grant. I expected nothing less. He's a great man and speaker.
- I like that he wants to dominate and take the program to the next level.
- I would have liked to hear more on his philosophy about playing style.
- I did like he talked about playing efficiently on offense (which wasn't always the case when he was at VCU/Alabama).
- I would have liked to hear more on what type of coaches he will be looking to get as assistant coaches, but I'm not surprised he didn't say more.
- I did find it interesting, but not necessarily surprising, that he sidestepped the question about Ostrom staying. I'm sure he can say much, but that would mean it isn't a definite.
- I think it was clear that a part of the decision to hire him was that he at least is saying he wants to stay (I am not saying that is a good or bad thing).
- I loved hearing him say the word ELITE. You guys know how I have been talking about that. We want to be ELITE and we need to act like we are ELITE in everything we do.
- I think Crosby will benefit from his style of play if he stays. Other players who I think will fit his style are Xeyrius, Trey, and Kostas.
He really had nowhere to go if he wanted to stay in college. At least none that made sense. It will still be nice when we officially hear he is staying.
Watched and listened after words on radio with Larry and I think he hit it out of the park. If he comes across to the recruits in the same manner, I believe we will have a good chance of keeping them. Time will tell.
Donnie Jones and AG were on Billy Donovan's staff at Marshall and Florida. Replaced Ron Jirsa (remember him, UD assistant under OP) at Marshall, then six season at Central Florida. Out of the business this past season.
Certailny comes off as a guy you'd want to play for. His press conference to me was better than Archies' at Indiana as fans posted he kind of looked like a deer in the head;lights and in six years most of us here knew he wasn't really comfortable making speeches and didn't come off as overly approachable at times. If A.G. gets into these recruits' home I think he'll convince most if not all to stick around. With Bruiser going to Indiana I'm surprise Ostrum still wants to follow Archie.You'd think Anthony would at least offer him a job on his staff. Maybe he still will. .
Oh, you're right. I think he'll be the best newcomer on next year's squad so of course I'm excited if he stays. Other than sitting another year AND burning a year of eligibility, he doesn't really have college options.
I like every single thing about Grant so far. While my wife & I were watching, we noted how much a recruit's parents would like Grant. Can easily see someone entrusting the care of their son to him.
I didn't hear exactly what he told Larry on whio after, but it sounded like he was going to try to talk the incoming guys into staying but if they didn't feel UD was right for them, he'd help them be released.
Think Baby D & Cunningham were not there but the other guys all were.
Grant, I would think has not had an opportunity to sit down with any of the AC guys and the ink is probably not dry on the contract.
As a person I think Anthony is awesome. The kind of guy you want to have a beer with. The kind of guy parents would rest easy with their kids playing basketball for. All around genuine good man. I'm hoping he has continued to learn and hone his coaching skills since he left Alabama. If that's the case I can easily see him having the success here like he had at VCU. I'm proud to have him as the coach.
Ostrom told me he didn't know what he was doing yet.
Baby D was there he was on the radio with Larry
None of the seniors and Cunningham was not there. Mostly everybody returning was there except Josh Cunningham, who is in Chicago right now.
He was an AC at Florida with Grant for those who don't know of (or remember) him.
I agree. We all knew he was a great guy and that is a reason he is a really good recruiter. Having said that, I was still impressed with his PC and interview. It was better than I expected.
Or a bad one.
I'm sure it means nothing. He knows the players and Grant.
Ostrom was nothing but class talking about AG to the DDN. They have known each other for years. He is probably the only current AC that makes sense to retain IMO and that's because of their time together under Donovan at UF.
Ostrum staying is fully on Ostrum i would imagine. I can't envision a scenario where Grant wouldn't want to keep him. I'm sure it's been offered to him. He's just debating the bright lights of the big ten and sticking with Archie over working with an old friend in a program he has grown to love. The hiring of Bruiser Flint at IU before Ostrum is puzzling to me. It could be that Ostrum is truly torn right now. Seeing him at the press conference is great to see though. Whether he stays at UD or not, it's a ringing endorsement to recruits that Grant is the real deal and someone they can have confidence in.
My wife watched the press conference with me and didn't really know who AG was. Her immediate comment was "he is a lot more polished than Archie". This stuff is not Archie's forte.
We're indebted to Archie Miller. He did a tremedous job. Now, it's on to a new era, with Anthony Grant leading our program.
I think the thing that strikes me most about this hire is how highly people speak about Anthony just as a human being. I don't know if i've ever seen anything like it. Everyone from his high school coach, to donoher, to donovan, vcu fans.... i mean even the Alabama AD had amazing things to say about Anthony as a person when he was letting him go. They speak so highly of him it's insane. It seems that the guy has made an indelible mark on everyone he has met in his life. That's going to pay dividends when he's selling a school that means so much to him. He's going to leave an impression on people when he's selling Dayton. That's for sure.
I disagree. Grant has worked with a ton of coaches who he might want more than Ostrom. He also has former players who are now coaches. I'm not saying he doesn't want Ostrom. I'm just saying there are a lot more options. And that's before even considering other coaches who may want the job, but have no connections to UD or Grant.
Even if that's true, and i don't doubt that it is, keeping Ostrum on gives Anthony a better chance to start off his tenure at UD successfully and make sure that he hits the ground running with a good class. I think it would be foolish of him to turn Ostrum away at this point (even if he thought there might be better people) because he'd be doing serious damage to what could be a strong class. In particular, if it becomes clear that he turned Ostrum down and not the other way around, then you can bet that mckinley and a few others will walk.
I know that you keep saying we need to hire the right coach. Well we've made the hire. And now that we've done that i think the first step in this process is damage control. Locking McKinley in would go a long way toward helping us not drop too far down. Because it's going to be harder for Grant to recruit new kids if he has a terrible record in his first year.
