Ncaa Basketball: Boston College fires men’s coach Earl Grant after five seasons

Boston College fired men’s basketball coach Earl Grant after five seasons, ending a tenure in which the Eagles never made the NCAA tournament and finished above. 500 only once. The ncaa basketball move, confirmed Wednesday at 11: 22 a. m. ET, resets leadership in Chestnut Hill after results fell off over the last two seasons.

Boston College ends Earl Grant tenure after five seasons

Grant, 49, compiled a 72-92 overall record and went 30-67 in the Atlantic Coast Conference after arriving in 2021 to replace Jim Christian. Boston College said it was making a leadership change in its men’s basketball program, a decision that follows five years without an NCAA tournament bid.

Grant’s time in Chestnut Hill included a stretch of improvement across his first three seasons, with Boston College rising from 13 wins to 16 and then to 20. That trajectory reversed late, and the Eagles won just seven ACC games combined over the last two seasons.

Atlantic Coast Conference results and missed conference tournament trips

Over Grant’s final two years, Boston College missed the 15-team ACC tournament in back-to-back seasons, a notable marker of how far the program slipped inside the league. The Eagles’ overall ACC record under Grant was 30-67, a figure that framed the program’s struggle to gain traction in conference play.

The coaching change also lands against a longer competitive backdrop: Boston College has not reached the NCAA tournament since the Al Skinner era, when the program earned seven bids in nine years from 2001-09. The current drought was described as the longest NCAA slump in program history.

Ncaa Basketball drought extends as BC’s ACC era struggles continue

Boston College left the Big East for the ACC in 2005 during a period of conference realignment, but its results in revenue sports have lagged. The men’s program’s record since joining the ACC stands at 305-368, described as the worst in conference history.

Other Boston College programs have also faced recent turnover and droughts. The women’s basketball team fired coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee last week and has not reached the NCAA tournament since 2006, its first year in the ACC. The football team went 2-10 this season, winning once in the conference, and the program has won one bowl game in a decade while not winning more than seven games since 2009.

Boston College has not announced a new men’s basketball coach, and no timeline for the next hire was provided as of 11: 22 a. m. ET Wednesday.