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Win the NEC Championship and head to the Big Dance ✓
Move to the more competitive America East ✓
Receive the bag and build an empire ✓
What a time, this is exciting and reliving stuff coming out of Smithfield. After one helluva season, I was worried that Grasso was going to get snatched up by schools like UMass or URI. And rightfully so, Coach Grasso is the epitome of an awesome coach. With recruiting skills that are better than most and one of the young leaders rising up the ranks, he is a name that will be remembered for years to come. But for now, he gets to stay at Bryant and help build this program to the moon.
After completing his fourth season as head coach, he lead the Bulldogs to a Division I program record 22 wins (22-10 overall), winning 17 of their last 21 games. He lead the team to capturing the programs first ever Northeast Conference Regular-Season and Tournament titles, and of course taking the Dawgs to the Dance for the first time ever.
The news is big for Bryant, as they now head to the America East, to compete on a much larger scale. Grasso has a career coaching record of 62-54 overall at Bryant, guiding the program to 15 wins in each of the last three seasons. Since taking over in 2018-19, Grasso has led Bryant to more overall wins (62) and more conference wins (44) than any other team in the NEC. Bryant President, Ross Gittell Ph.D., had the following to say for Grasso's extension.
"Coach Grasso has built our men's basketball program into a winner and with the team's success has come enhanced recognition of Bryant's excellence not only on the court but in academic programs and on achieving Top 1% nationally in student outcomes, We look forward to Coach Grasso's continued leadership of our student-athletes and contributions to our University's rising national recognition."
Grasso has built a culture of winning and success, and talent will sure continue to pour into Rhode Island. As an Alumni/Media Personality/Fan, I am happy he's back! This is just the beginning, just you wait!
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