JONESBORO -- Grant McCasland hasn't had time to slow down and take a breath, much less move into his new Jonesboro home.
Arkansas State's new men's basketball coach has been on the job for just over a month, but he still has one more assistant coach to hire and one more scholarship to fill for next season. Forgive him if he spent a recent afternoon bouncing from the Convocation Center on one side of campus to a building that houses a practice gym while hosting a recruit on another.
At a glance
NAME Grant McCasland
POSITION Head men’s basketball coach, Arkansas State
AGE 39
HOMETOWN Irving, Texas
ALMA MATER Baylor (1999), Texas Tech (2001)
FAMILY Wife: Cece; Children: Amaris, Jett, Jersey, Beckett
COACHING EXPERIENCE Baylor, assistant coach (2011-2016); Midwestern State, head coach (2009-2011); Midland College, head coach (2004-2009); Northeastern Junior College, assistant coach (2001-2003); Texas Tech, director of basketball operations (1999-2001).
ASU head coaches
• Grant McCasland is Arkansas State’s sixth full-time head coach since moving to Division I in 1970. Here are each coach’s record.
COACH;YEARS;RECORD;POSTSEASON
John Brady;2008-2016;120-129;None*
Dickey Nutt;1995-2008;159-187^;NCAA 1999
Nelson Catalina;1984-1995;188-139;NIT 1987-1989, 1991
Marvin Adams;1976-1984;110-108;None
John Rose;1969-1976;88-84;None
*ASU vacated one victory during the 2015-2016 season due to NCAA penalty
^ASU vacated 27 victories in 2005-2007 due to NCAA penalty
As far as living quarters, McCasland can be found most of the time in his office, or at the ASU president's house in Jonesboro. He and his wife, Cece, have bought a new home, but they won't move in until their four children finish school in Waco, Texas, where they lived for the past five years while McCasland was an assistant at Baylor.
For now, the couch in his office will do just fine.
"I've got a bathroom and a shower in the office here," he said. "So it's a pretty cool setup."
It's everything he needs to plug holes in a roster that he hopes can help ASU win right away.
McCasland, 39, was hired March 16 to take over for John Brady, whose eight years in Jonesboro included two 19-victory seasons but no NCAA or NIT appearances. It ended with consecutive losing seasons in which the Red Wolves missed the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. McCasland was hired to move men's basketball into the upper echelon of the Sun Belt, where many of the school's sports programs reside.
In the current athletic season, ASU's football, volleyball and women's basketball teams all won conference titles. It's a theme McCasland said attracted him to his first Division I head coaching job, despite ASU not having sustained success in the sport since moving to Division I in 1970. ASU has been to the NCAA Tournament once, in 1999, and has just five 20-victory seasons in that span.
But McCasland points to a similar feel at ASU now to his time at Midland College, which he led to a junior college national title in 2007, and at Division II Midwestern State, which he led to two Division II Elite Eight appearances.
"We've been there at the right time when the vision of the program has really taken off," he said. "Honestly, they wanted to be great. So, I'm just fortunate to step in at the right time, and I'm just going to catch up with where all the other sports are and be great."
McCasland is rebuilding a roster that lost three scholarship players between October and December of last season. He also will be without All-Sun Belt forward Anthony Livingston, who averaged 15.5 points and 9.4 rebounds last season. Livingston has asked for a release from his scholarship and will transfer.
Those departures and the loss of four seniors leave McCasland with five returning scholarship players. Four players signed with ASU in the early signing period, and McCasland said last week that all four have "expressed interest" in staying on. That left McCasland with four available scholarships, three of which he has given to junior-college transfers.
Guards Deven Simms, from Connors State College in Warner, Okla., and Rashad Lindsey, from Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College, signed last week. Tamas Bruce, a 6-8 forward originally from Osceola, but who played last season at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., signed earlier this week.
Simms, a first-team NJCAA All-American, led his team with 20.3 points per game, Lindsey led his team with 3.9 assists and Bruce was his team's top rebounder at 8.2 per game. All three have have the type of post-high school experience McCasland said is required for his first Red Wolves team.
"We need guys who have played at this level, and who have played at levels similar to it," he said. "We do have a plan to make sure that we've got guys for the future, but I'm interested in being good next year. I'm not interested in developing a long plan for success."
McCasland learned that sense of urgency at Baylor, which plays in the Big 12. One or two bad seasons at a Power 5 conference school, McCasland said, and "you're done."
McCasland has made it clear he doesn't intend on easing into anything.
"Everything is in place," he said. "There's not really an excuse."
Sports on 04/22/2016