It is hard to believe that just two years ago, many Texas Tech basketball fans had never heard of Grant McCasland. At this time in 2023, the program was reeling after Mark Adams' disastrous two-year run as head coach, a stint that ended prior to the 2023 Big 12 Tournament when Adams was accused of improper treatment of a player and was subsequently suspended before he ultimately resigned on March 8, 2023.
As the Texas Tech job search got underway, it didn't take long for McCasland's name to pop up. After all, he had done a fantastic job at North Texas, where he went 135-65 overall and led the Mean Green to the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round.
It wasn't long until reports surfaced that McCasland was going to get the Texas Tech job. However, the university had to wait until his North Texas team finished its run in the 2023 N.I.T. It was a rather lengthy wait because UNT would roll all the way to the N.I.T. title, meaning McCasland wasn't introduced as Tech's head coach until April 3, 2023, nearly a month after Adams resigned.
That seems like an eternity ago because, in the last two years, McCasland has become one of the most popular coaches on campus. Of course, the fact that he's got the program back into the Elite Eight is a huge reason for the love affair between McCasland and Red Raider fans everywhere, but that bond has also been forged by the fact that McCasland is such a great fit in Lubbock.
Friday, prior to his team's Elite Eight showdown with Florida, McCasland met with the media, where he was asked about how he built the program back into a winner so quickly. That's when McCasland talked about Lubbock and how great of a fit it is for him and his family.
"And that's the cool thing about being a Red Raider," he said. "When you get to Lubbock and you live in Lubbock, it changes your life. It's, like, one of the best places you'll ever live. It is the best place for us. That's what the coolest part was.
"What I had to get to the bottom of was just who really wanted to win. And the guys who stayed wanted to win. The guys we've added, their heart is they want to win more than they want to play good."
Though McCasland is a Baylor graduate, he and his family have strong ties to Lubbock and Texas Tech. He was the Texas Tech basketball Director of Operations from 1999-01. That's when he met his wife, Cece, who played soccer at Tech.
Now, the McCaslands have found a home in Lubbock, and it appears they are ready to be Red Raiders for the long haul. That's refreshing to fans of a program that has recently seen Chris Beard bolt for his alma mater, Texas, in 2021 after referring to Texas Tech as "momma" in his introductory press conference and Mark Adams betray his alma mater, Tech, by not taking his opportunity seriously one he was handed the reins following Beard's exit.
Due to that turnover and the toxic atmosphere that was left inside the program, McCasland had to undertake a rebuilding effort immediately upon his arrival. In his first offseason, he brought eight new players into the fold, including six transfers. Then, in 2024, he added six more new faces, four of which were transfers. McCasland talked about how he and his staff went about the task of putting together a winning roster.
"Well, the first thing that we tried to do as a staff was to listen to them and do more time listening than I did talking," he said. "And just tried to be around the guys and the people that were important to them and the players in our program and the people that were important to them so I could hear honestly what they had to say.
"And I think a lot of times you can go into these rooms and you can have a lot of answers for people, but honestly, in taking the job -- I played in the Southwest Conference and played in the Big 12 against Texas Tech. And then my first job was for James Dickey as the director of basketball operations at Texas Tech.
"So in '99, I'd been there and had a relationship. It was always something that would have been a dream to be the head coach of the Red Raiders. But it wasn't something that I was passionately trying to pursue because I just loved the job I was at. That's what I wanted to do."
The jewel of McCasland's first recruiting class in Lubbock was Darrion Williams, who has become the leader of the program and a first-team All-Big 12 performer. McCasland shared an interesting story about bringing Williams into the fold after he played his freshman season at Nevada.
"He was the first player that committed to us," he said, "and he was the first guy that signed with us. And he believed in us first. When I watched him play, there were two parts of it that really stood out to me. One, he was a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover guy. As a true freshman, he led Nevada in rebounding. I mean, who does that? He shot one of the best percentages on their team from 3. So just feel for the game...
"What I saw on film was he was willing to do whatever it took to help the team win. If I felt we could lean on anything, it was that. That's what we started the program with.
"I had a family member of a significant player on our team telling me we were making a huge mistake recruiting him because he was not talented enough to play in the Big 12.
"Darrion Williams isn't just talented enough to play in the Big 12, he's an All-Big 12 player that's got our team in the Elite Eight."
Thankfully, McCasland and Williams both joined the program two years ago, and now, they are leading the Red Raiders into the Elite Eight. Both are perfect fits in Lubbock, and both have become beloved by a fan base that was left disenchanted and frustrated by the turmoil that preceded their arrival. That feels like ancient history now, though, as the new era of the program has taken a massive step forward in 2025.