Gruden is an assistant coach on Donnie Jones’ staff at Stetson, which beat Austin Peay 94-91 on Sunday in the Atlantic Sun Conference championship game in DeLand, Fla.
Stetson will make its first NCAA tournament appearance in its 53rd season. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects the Hatters to receive a No. 16 seed and play No. 1 Connecticut in the first round. Jerry Palm, of CBS Sports, predicts Stetson will play as a No. 16 seed in the first round at UD Arena.
Jones coached on Anthony Grant’s staff at Dayton in the 2018-19 season before taking the job at Stetson in 2019. He’s 78-77 in five seasons and 22-12 this season.
Gruden joined Jones’ staff in 2022 as director of basketball operations. He also has coached the Dayton Flyers alumni team, the Red Scare, since 2019.
Another former Dayton staff member, Brett Comer, is also an assistant for Jones. Comer joined Grant’s staff in August 2017 as one of two graduate assistants. He was promoted to director of player development in 2019 and then to director of basketball operations in the spring of 2021. He joined Jones’ staff in the summer of 2022 after five seasons at Dayton.
Stetson is also where Grant got his start in college coaching in 1993. He was hired by former UD assistant Dan Hipsher, who coached Stetson from 1993-95.
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