The New York Times-20080124-Virginia Commonwealth Coach Is in Demand

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Virginia Commonwealth Coach Is in Demand

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Virginia Commonwealth Coach Anthony Grant calmly stood in front of his bench with his hands on his hips as the clock wound down Wednesday night at Hofstra's Mack Sports Complex. For the entire game, he never sat and his stoic expression rarely, if ever, changed.

He's a highly intelligent guy and he's very much a plotter in how he thinks, V.C.U. Athletic Director Norwood Teague said at halftime. He's very thoughtful in how he approaches the game and how he approaches the team. He's never rash.

On the court, Grant's V.C.U. team, a darling in last year's N.C.A.A. tournament when it upset Duke in the first round, was in the midst of another victory in the Colonial Athletic Association. This time, V.C.U. defeated struggling Hofstra, 82-65.

Meanwhile, Grant's past, possible future and what could have been his present were tangling 600 miles away in Columbia, S.C.

There, Florida Coach Billy Donovan, Grant's former boss, was pacing the sideline as his Gators defeated the Gamecocks, 73-71, in a Southeastern Conference game.

Grant, in his second year as the coach at V.C.U., was close to being there as the coach of Florida, the two-time defending national champion. Instead, Grant is guiding the Rams (14-4, 7-1) on another tear through their midmajor conference.

During Donovan's six-day rendezvous with the N.B.A.'s Orlando Magic in June, Grant was the immediate and obvious choice to succeed Donovan in Gainesville.

Grant was so close to the job, in fact, that within a day of Donovan's signing with the Magic, Florida had contacted Grant about the opening and Athletic Director Jeremy Foley had flown to Richmond, Va., to speak with him.

But Foley headed right back when he heard Donovan might return. Five days later, Donovan was again in charge at Florida and Grant was still at V.C.U.

Grant, 41, is perhaps the hottest young coach in college basketball. There is speculation that he will be a candidate for coming job openings, including one at South Carolina, where Dave Odom announced last week that he would retire after the season.

Grant bristles when he hears his name in connection with other jobs.

For me, that's all it's about is winning, Grant said. I can't control the hearsay and the he said, she said. My focus is on this team, competing for a championship and doing the things we need to do. All of that stuff I guess makes for an interesting story, a good read, but it's not reality.

Last season, Grant, whose annual base salary is $400,000, received a raise and an extension through the 2012-13 season. Teague will not allow any other universities to contact Grant about a job until next season.

He's such a focused guy, he doesn't want it to take away from the season, he doesn't want his players worrying about it, he doesn't want recruits worrying about it, Teague said. And Anthony's not a hopper. I know he's going to be high up on a lot of lists, but he's committed to V.C.U.

It is easy to see why Grant is attractive to other programs. A polished taskmaster who worked under Donovan for 12 years at Florida and at Marshall, Grant has won a national title and led V.C.U. to a program-best 28-7 record and to C.A.A. regular-season and tournament championships in his first season. The Rams' accomplishments last March certainly did not hurt his profile. The star guard Eric Maynor made big shots to win the C.A.A. tournament and to topple Duke in the N.C.A.A. tournament, earning his team and coach plenty of attention.

Against Hofstra (4-13, 2-6) on Wednesday, the senior Jamal Shuler scored 23 points as V.C.U. fought through a tight first half to pull away early in the second. Shuler, too, is a Grant fan.

He doesn't just stress basketball, he stresses life, Shuler said. He tries to create adverse situations in practice and everything we do because if we face adversity like we did down early in this game, we can battle back.

Hofstra Coach Tom Pecora called V.C.U. the conference's premier team. They're as good as any team I've ever coached against as far as playing every possession that hard, he said.

That style enabled V.C.U. to defeat Hofstra for the second time in 12 days. Grant and his team then headed back to Richmond. Where he will go from there is to be determined.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Coach Anthony Grant during Virginia Commonwealth's victory at Hofstra on Wednesday.(PHOTOGRAPH BY BARTON SILVERMAN/THE NEW YORK TIMES)