Grant McCasland is introduced as the 15th Head Men's Basketball Coach at Arkansas State University:

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Arkansas State University System President Dr. Charles Welch

Dr. Tim Hudson is providing transformative leadership for this campus that I’m not sure we’ve ever seen before, and he is going to take us to places that we have never been before. He continues to understand the importance of athletics, and what it means to this university, and he’s been a great partner in all of these processes, and certainly this one as well. We appreciate what you are doing.

Terry (Mohajir), when he’s not trying to run through a wall or pacing around my office for three hours, he’s the best athletic director in the country. Period. He did most of the heavy lifting on this search as he does on all of these and Tim and I just come in at the very end. Once again, I think he has identified a candidate, who not only is the right person at the right time, but is also someone who will build a program that we are proud of. I can tell you from the very moment I met Grant McCasland I knew this is the man that needs to lead our program. He was in my office for about two and a half hours Monday and I had a chance to visit with him. First of all, he had enough good sense to bring Cece with him to my office, which is the same thing these guys did. And Grant, what you’re going to find is once again, the spouse is better than the person we ended up hiring in all of these circumstances. We have a little joke that you have to have three children for us to hire you, since the three of us did, Grant is an overachiever.

You’re going to hear a lot more about him, and why he’s the right guy as a winner, I don’t think there is any question about it. I don’t care where you are, what level you are or where you’re doing it; if you go 199-44, you know how to coach basketball. He said all of the right things, had the right answers, had the right vision, understanding, and he’s someone that cares more about these young men and their educations, and livelihoods.

It isn't just winning on the basketball court, but there was one thing about him that stood out to me when I met with him earlier this week, and he’s doing it again right now. He never sits back in his chair. Two and a half hours he sat like that with intensity and a focus. He looked at us and said, 'I want this job, and I will win.' That’s why he’s sitting there right now. Coach, I couldn’t be more proud to have you here, we're excited about what you’ll bring to this university, and these young men ought to be excited about what they’re getting. They’re getting someone who is going to be a great role model, a good man, and someone who can help them be successful in life, as well as on the basketball court. To the entire McCasland family, welcome, we are so happy to have you here and we are really looking forward to all the success that we will have on the court, and in the classroom.

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Arkansas State University Chancellor Dr. Tim Hudson

Welcome everybody, another incredible day to be a part of the strong, and getting stronger all the time, Red Wolf Nation. Everything Chuck said, especially about my leadership is absolutely true. I just want to go on record. The spouse part, ehhhh, I’m just kidding! She knows I’m joking, you know I’m joking right?

You know what we keep hearing about Arkansas State University is something that all of you helped create, and I want to thank you. We couldn’t do it alone, its momentum. We’ve asked several people, what do you think about Arkansas State? What’s happening there? What’s going on? It’s about momentum. We’ve admitted, now for three years in a row, our most academically talented freshman class. The average ACT score for students in our honors college is 28. Now, I live across from the Jonesboro Country Club, and I see foursomes of golf every day, and you couldn’t add their ACT up to 28. We put 250 million dollars worth of facilities, and brought them out of the ground in the last three years. Yes, including the incredible Centennial Bank Stadium expansion, and the new Woodard McAlister Family Club, which is in demand already. It's a wonderful venue and it’s absolutely fantastic.

Coach, I think the word of the day for us is momentum. We’re going to turn a page now for our men’s athletic programs, and our men’s basketball program, and we’re very excited about that. I want to thank Coach (John) Brady for what he contributed to our community for the last eight years, and I think (women's) coach (Brian) Boyer is in here, and we would be remiss not to recognize our women’s basketball team, and their achievement. No pressure Coach (McCasland). Thank you Coach (Boyer) for your leadership. If you haven’t had a chance to see these young women play, you’re going to have another chance Thursday night, I hope you come out and do that.

Momentum is the word of the day. People say, what role do you play in this process? What do you look for? I have experts that tell me whether these candidates can coach. But I will say this, we heard a lot of good things about Arkansas State University, and I appreciate everything that everybody in this room has done to make this happen. What do I look for? I look for a mentor, somebody who can lead young men, somebody that wants this job, and someone who wins with integrity. And I believe we found that coach. One of the reasons that we have a lot of interest in what’s going on at Arkansas State University is because of our leadership of our athletics department, and that's Terry Mohajir.

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Arkansas State University Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir

I want to thank John Brady for his eight years of service here and all of the things that he has accomplished in his time here. Other thank you's that I wanted to extend is to (Associate Athletic Director) Rich Zvosec for helping me in this search. Matt Doherty, who is a college scout right now for the Indiana Pacers, he’s a former head coach, you may remember him. He did a lot of help for me during the search, and some intel for us. Ed DuBar he’s our MVP. We wouldn’t be able to get around the country without him. So thank you so much.

And obviously our search firm, Chuck and Tim, you guys should be so proud to have these two. They are the two best administrators in higher education in the country. No question. The things that they brag about, this school, our program, I’m not just talking about athletics, as a program. You, as alums, should be proud; I know I am as an alum. Our university is well represented with these two gentlemen at the helm. So thank you gentlemen. I want them to be part of the process. They ultimately say it’s your decision, but listening to their council and feedback is tremendous. To do what we’re going do here, and build our program up, we have to have the buy in from our administration. There has never been an athletics director, a football coach or a basketball coach that has won a championship on his own. We have to have the support of our university to win championships.

It’s been very clear that we haven’t been satisfied with our men’s basketball program over the last couple of years. We have an opportunity to change the culture and that’s what we are going to do. Before we get started, I want everybody to delete the pictures in their head from the last couple of years and create new pictures in your head of what you want this program to be. If you think it, you will believe it and it will happen. It starts today in this room right now. A new era for men’s basketball.

The process was very simple, it was a national search. We had a little bit of a head start. As you might have read about in the paper, there were a lot of people interested in the job. We are very excited. It’s a very tough process. It's not glamorous. Friends that I have worked with in the past that wanted the job. The one good thing about the Arkansas State job is that everybody thinks it is a good job. It’s because of these gentleman, you and our university.

We were looking for someone that has had success on multiple levels. We were looking for a gentleman that has had success as a head coach. That wasn’t the most important thing, but we’ll take the national championship. You can't get much more successful than that. We also wanted someone who had been around a program you had to turn around. Ten years ago, Baylor got put on probation. That is one of the greatest turn arounds in college basketball history. They are now a perennial powerhouse. We got a guy who is part of that success.

We were looking at somebody who could help our guys to reach their goals of playing in the NBA, or playing abroad. I wanted the opportunity to play in the pros out of college and these guys have the opportunity to do that. Now with overseas and developmental leagues, they really have an opportunity, so we need to hire a guy that has helped players reach the pros. We wanted a coach that believes in the value of an education, that by recruiting someone to Arkansas State, you give them the opportunity to change their environment.

By getting a degree and getting them a job after they graduate, you give them an opportunity to change their family's circumstances for life. I’ve got Amaris, I’ve got Jett, I’ve got Beckett and Jersey. Last night Jersey was trying to take everything in. My family had dinner with the McCaslands, and she was kind of like my dad is not going to sign anything until he talks about it to me first. I thought that was pretty awesome. She was kind of quiet. She went over and stood next to her mother and looked me right in the eye and said, 'when my dad coaches he cut down nets'. So, here is my first present to the McCasland family, scissors. His family can help him cut down the nets when we win a championship. I believe we have the right coach at the right time. I believe that we can have the culture to be a championship-caliber program. It starts now.

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Head Coach Grant McCasland

If you’ll turn to the book of Matthew. Y'all made a mistake, you put a Baptist preacher's kid behind the podium. This is awesome, to have a room full of excited people with high expectations for winning. The best part of my day so far was meeting with the players. To me, this is all about family. The one thing that was clear to me in this process was that there are amazing people in Jonesboro, Arkansas and at Arkansas State University. The people sitting up here, it was clear to me what the expectation is and how great this community is.

I want to thank Dr. Chuck Welch, Dr. Tim Hudson and Terry (Mohajir) for this opportunity. It was clear to me that these are some of the greatest people on this Earth, and they care dearly about these players. When you have that kind of support, that makes it easy. (Associate AD) Rich Zvosec has been fantastic through all this.

This has happened fast. People found out on twitter before my family did. It happened so fast, but the one thing that made it easy was how excited the team at Baylor was. I'd be remiss if I didn’t thank Coach (Scott) Drew and the whole Baylor team. I’ll be flying out of here to represent the Red Wolves tomorrow at 1:40 p.m. as we take on Yale. I’ll be wearing a red tie and we’ll be ready to roll. I think that’s a great way to start this, because that is our expectation. We are going to be in the NCAA tournament. The number one reason is because of all the players here.

My wife, Cece, is remarkable. She played college soccer. We were both walk-ons. I was a walk-on at Baylor and she was a walk-on at Texas Tech, and she ended up earning a whole lot more scholarships than I did. She is amazing and without her and her support it wouldn’t work.

This sums up our day here. I go to bed at 2 a.m. and wake up at 4 a.m., Terry’s schedule. I get up and go into the bathroom and get some things ready and I hear something around the corner. I looked up and it was my little man Beckett. He comes running in and is half googly-eyed, and he is putting on his shirt getting ready for the day. That’s the way we’re approaching this. We’re waking up with passion everyday to help these men figure out life.

Dr. Welch said I will win, but we will win. It takes all of us. We’re going to support these guys academically. They will graduate and that is not an option. We have the best GPA in Baylor’s history, and that doesn’t happen because you just say go to class. I’m going to get up with them in the morning, and we are going to shoot at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. and we’re making sure guys are moving. I’m going to be there with you very step of the way, and that is my commitment. It’s going to be a we.

In 1998, I was a basketball player at Baylor and we came here to play A-State. There was a little guard named Chico Fletcher. It’s at the end of the game and this is my senior year. I didn't play a lot because I was an ankle biter. But, I competed and earned time. We came to Jonesboro at the beginning of the season in November. I remember the Convocation Center. It was hopping and there was a great crowd. I told Rich (Zvosec) and Terry (Mohajir) that I have great memories of going into that game and seeing a phenomenal atmosphere. At the end of the game, I’m playing point and Chico rips me and goes and makes a layup and I foul him. He made a basket to put you guys up and end up beating us.

That’s the memory I have of this place. Because of that experience, I remember that and I will never forget the name Chico Fletcher. That’s what we are going to do. We are going to beat people we aren’t expected to beat. I’m not planning on this being a long process either. I’ve been fortunate to be in six of the last seven NCAA tournaments. The one we didn’t make we won the NIT Championship. That is our expectation. I told our guys this is a we and this is about our family. My expectation is that they’re your kids' heroes, and people that our families can look up to. Our families are going to come to practices. We’re going to be apart of this as a family. We will win together, and in the end, we hope those scissors get put to use real quick.