Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
One of the most versatile players and highly regarded student-athletes in Mississippi State's recent basketball history, Marcus Grant begins his seventh season working at his alma mater on Rick Stansbury's Bulldog coaching staff.
Now in his fifth season in an expanded role as an MSU assistant coach, Grant is charged with primary responsibilities in the wide-ranging areas of scouting preparation, on-floor gameday coaching and recruiting. Grant spent his first two seasons back at his alma mater serving as the staff's coordinator of men's basketball operations.
Grant spent the better part of a decade starring in Finland as a perennial all-league standout in the Finnish Basketball Association since his graduation from Mississippi State in 1995. Most recently on the court, the former three-time Eurobasket All-Finnish League Import Player of the Year averaged 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game in leading the Kouvolan Kouvot club to the 2003-04 Finnish League championship. The previous season as a member of the Honka Espoo contingent, Grant averaged 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals per contest in pacing the Playboys to the Finnish team title as the league's best import player of 2002-03.
Prior to helping lead two different clubs to the Finnish League championship in 2003-04 and 2002-03, Grant played three consecutive seasons (2000-02) with the Namika Lahti squad. In his first season with the club, he averaged 19.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 steals per outing in leading Namika Lahti to the 1999-2000 Finnish League crown. Individually, Grant received his first of three Eurobasket All-Finnish League Import Player of the Year honors, in addition to being named to the 1999-2000 Eurobasket All-Finnish League First Team and All-Defensive Team. In subsequent seasons with Namika Lahti, he went on to average 23.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in 2000-01 and then averaged 19.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game the following year to help pace the team to the championship finals of the Finnish League.
Having also played professionally on the international level in Germany (2003), Portugal (1998) and France (1996) within the past decade, Grant's professional playing career began in 1995 as a member of the Atlanta Trojans of the United States Basketball League. While averaging 18.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest in being named to the USBL's 1995 All-Rookie Team, Grant helped lead the Trojans to a runner-up finish for the league championship. Upon participating in the Dallas Mavericks rookie/free agent camp in the fall of 1995, he went on to average 15.1 points and 4.4 assists per game in helping pace the Black Hills (S.D.) Posse to the inaugural championship series of the International Basketball Association (IBA) in 1996.
A former prep standout at Macon (Ga.) Central High School, Grant was one of Stansbury's first prized Bulldog recruits during the current MSU head coach's early years as a State assistant. Grant developed into a three-year starter and two-time team co-captain for coach Richard Williams' Bulldogs, having totaled 970 points (9.2 ppg), 384 rebounds (3.7 rpg) and 278 assists (2.6 apg) in 105 career collegiate contests. He currently stands fourth on the school's all-time list for career 3-pointers made (164) and fifth in career trey attempts (461), while shooting 35.6 percent from beyond the three-point arc for his career.
A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll with a bachelor's degree in communication, Grant garnered third-team all-SEC honors as a senior after averaging 10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per outing in helping lead the 22-8 Bulldogs to the co-championship of the league's Western Division and an appearance in the 1995 NCAA Sweet 16. That year he was ranked runner-up for the team lead with 98 assists and 29 blocks, while rating as the team's No. 3 scorer behind fellow all-SEC performers Darryl Wilson and Erick Dampier. Along with having capped his productive State playing stint by receiving the team's prestigious Babe McCarthy Memorial Award for his all-around contributions to the Bulldog basketball program, Grant also was chosen MSU's Best Defensive Player as a junior and the club's Most Improved Player during his sophomore campaign.
Grant, 37, is married to the former Angie Rice of Starkville, Miss. They are the proud parents of one son, Marcus II, 8, and a daughter, Kayla, 5. Grant also has a daughter, Kendra, 19.
Coaching Career
- 2004-06: Coordinator of Men's Basketball Operations, Mississippi State University
- 2006-present: Assistant Coach, Mississippi State University
