David Grace (basketball)

David Grace is an American college basketball coach, former high school and AAU head coach, and is retired from the United States Air Force. He was most recently the associate head coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores of the Southeastern Conference.^[1]

Military career[]

Grace grew up in Aberdeen, Maryland, while his father Gerald worked long hours as a mechanic and his mother worked as a beautician. He began military life after his mother remarried a serviceman and then moved to a series of bases over the years. He joined the United States Air Force at age 18 and served for 20 years. For 16 years as a fuel specialist and accountant, Grace traveled between Air Force bases in Turkey, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, and Virginia before settling down in the Phoenix, Arizona area for the last few years of his enlistment.

A decorated former technical sergeant who has seen combat in Operation Desert Storm, Grace is an active supporter of his fellow military veterans, especially those who have faced challenges after they have returned home from war zones, as shown in the UCLA video Coach Grace On Giving Thanks For Our Veterans. Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports said the importance of discipline, teamwork, and following the chain of command became ingrained in Grace, and three months in Saudi Arabia (during Operation Desert Storm) also taught him to appreciate the difference between the life-threatening pressure of a combat zone and the day-to-day challenges of a job.^[2]

Coaching career[]

AAU[]

Grace began his youth coaching career in 1997 while he was stationed at Langley AFB, Virginia, when he started coaching with the Boo Williams Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) program in Hampton, Virginia.^[3] After leaving Langley, Grace was stationed at Luke AFB near Phoenix and coached two AAU teams and a high school team. "I've been very proud of him seeing the progress he's made from the time he began here as an assistant coach at a high school to becoming an assistant coach at OSU (Oregon State University)," said Ronald Goodwyn, 56th Fighter Wing equal opportunity director. "He has taken the Air Force core values and tied them into his coaching to prepare the athletes to be successful even after their life in basketball."^[4]

After relocating to Luke AFB in Arizona, he began coaching AAU teams with the Compton Magic. He also co-founded and coached the Arizona Magic AAU program in the Phoenix, Arizona area, as an affiliate of the Compton Magic, that made it to the Elite Eight (of 338 AAU teams) of the 2004 Reebok Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. That team that featured Philadelphia 76ers player Jerryd Bayless (Arizona), Kaleo Kina (Naval Academy), Darren Jordan (Oral Roberts), Ty Morrison (Creighton/Grand Canyon), and former Stanford All-Conference selection and European League professional Lawrence Hill (Le Havre, France).^[5] They finished the AAU season ranked 21st in the nation and were the highest ranked team ever from Arizona up until that time.^[6]

High school[]

Grace began his high school coaching career at Trevor Browne High School in Phoenix while at Luke AFB, and then retired and moved into coaching full-time.^[7] As an Assistant Varsity Coach he helped lead Trevor Browne to a State Final Four and the team finished ranked in the Top 40 in the nation by the Sporting News.^[8] Grace began working toward becoming a full-time HS teacher and taught business and computer skills. He then became head coach at South Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, for the 2004–05 season and won the 2005-06 Division 5A-2 State Championship with a win/loss record of 29–4, and was the Arizona Varsity (Rivals.com) and Arizona Informant Coach of the Year.^[9][10]

College[]

Grace started his college coaching career at California State University, Sacramento in 2006 as an assistant coach to head coach Jerome Jenkins, after receiving a recommendation from University of Arizona coach Lute Olson.^[11] Grace's first major recruit there was 2006-07 Big Sky Freshman of the Year Vinnie McGhee from Oakland's McClymonds High School.^[12]

After one year in Sacramento, Grace then became an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco in 2007-08 under head coach Jessie Evans, who had been an assistant coach under Lute Olson on his 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball National Championship team.^[13]

Grace was hired as an assistant coach of the Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team in 2008-09 by head coach Craig Robinson, the older brother of U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, and served there through the 2012–13 season. His first major Beaver recruit was All-Conference Team selection Roberto Nelson, who became the 2012-13 Pac-12 Conference scoring champion (20.7 points per game), and was a European pro in Italy (Trieste).^[14]

UCLA[]

In 2016 Grace was ranked #7 nationally and #1 in the West by ESPN for the best recruiters based on feedback from a D1 coaching peer survey by ESPN. "^[15] On March 24, 2018 long time Tucson sports columnist Greg Hansen, in referring to rejuvenating the Arizona Wildcat program after their first round NCAA exit, asked in his column "Is (Sean) Miller willing to pursue someone like UCLA's David Grace, who, in my opinion, is the league's most feared recruiter and top assistant coach?"^[16]

Grace completed 11 years of coaching in the Pac-12 Conference where he was one of the longest tenured coaches. Until 2018, he was an assistant coach at UCLA under head coach Steve Alford, his fifth season with the Bruins who had 117 wins during his time there.^[17] Three of Grace's first four seasons at UCLA ended with Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.^[18]

ESPN ranked the 2018 Bruin recruiting class number two in the nation behind only Duke. "With this current class, it's fairly clear that UCLA has re-established itself as one of the premier recruiting schools in the country. Given the Bruins' history, that shouldn't be news -- but they have now landed nine ESPN 100 prospects in the last two recruiting classes, on the heels of two five-star prospects and three one-and-done prospects from the 2016 class."^[19]

"David has been tremendous," Alford said. "I've been fortunate in my 23 years to not just hire people who understand basketball but who are also really good people, and that's what David is. He's a great guy and he's a tireless worker. He's always on the phone calling or texting recruits."^[20]

The 2016–17 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team included new recruits Lonzo Ball (the Naismith National Prep Player of the Year), T. J. Leaf, and Ike Anigbogu, and was rated the fifth best recruiting class in the nation by ESPN.^[21] Grace had recruited Ball prior to Alford arriving at UCLA. "They went up the court about four times, then stopped," Grace recalled. "I walked over to his head coach and said [Lonzo] has a scholarship offer from Oregon State. I knew he was that good."^[22] After his freshman season with UCLA Ball was voted consensus first team All-American (USBWA, NABC, and Sporting News) and won the Wayman Tisdale Award as the top freshman in America.^[23] T. J. Leaf led UCLA in scoring at 16.3 ppg and was voted First Team All-Pac-12 Conference.^[24]

Columnist Clay Fowler of the Orange County Register wrote that these Bruins tied a program record with 28 regular season wins (31-5 overall, 15-3 Conference) and spent nearly half the season in the top five of the AP poll, rising as high as No. 2. UCLA finished its season as the highest-scoring team in the country (89.8 points per game), the nation's leader in field-goal percentage (52.2), assists per game (21.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.91). The Bruins’ peaked with a road victory at Arizona on Feb. 25 that earned UCLA the distinction as the only team to ever win games in Kentucky and Arizona's home arenas in the same season.^[25]

Ball and Leaf both declared for the NBA draft after the conclusion of the 2016-17 season and were drafted in the first round along with Ike Anigbogu in the second round.^[26]

Shortly before the Final Four of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Grace was informed that he would not be retained by UCLA, being replaced by Murry Bartow.^[27]

California[]

After not be retained by UCLA after his contract expired in 2018, Grace was hired by Wyking Jones to be an assistant coach for the California Golden Bears men's basketball team in April 2018.^[28] Jones had previously worked for Steve Alford at the University of New Mexico racking up 52 wins in two years before heading to Louisville under Rick Pitino where they won the NCAA D1 National Championship in 2013. On October 1, 2018 Grace landed Joel Brown as a Cal commit, the number 4 ranked player in Canada (from Toronto), and the number 12 ranked PG in the class of 2019 according to 247Sports. https://www.zagsblog.com/2018/10/02/joel-brown-to-cal/

Vanderbilt[]

On April 16, 2019, Grace was hired by Jerry Stackhouse to be the associate head coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores.^[29] Stackhouse, an 18 year NBA player, was signed to a six year deal by new AD Malcolm Turner, after serving as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors and had also been the NBA G League Coach of the Year for the Raptors 905. Turner became Vanderbilt's Vice Chancellor and AD shortly before hiring Stackhouse who he had worked with previously as president of the NBA G League. "If you ask Coach Stackhouse, he'll give credit where it's due, labeling Grace as an 'unbelievable, tireless recruiter.' But that just scratches the surface. He reiterates Grace's message; he understands that his associate head coach is far more than just a recruiter. “He recruited a couple of my kids, Brandon Ingram in particular... We formed a relationship, and he had a reputation as a great coach, a great person and a great recruiter. David will get us talent, but he's so much more than that. He'll still show off what he is: a really good basketball coach.” ^[30]

Vanderbilt's first recruit under Stackhouse and Grace was Scottie Pippen Jr. of Sierra Canyon HS in California, son of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls era with six NBA championships and Michael Jordan, who re-committed in late April 2019. http://www.espn.co.uk/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/26604899/vanderbilt-signs-pippen-jr-son-hall-famer. Their second commit was 6'6" Kenyon Martin Jr., son of 15 year NBA player Kenyon Martin, who teamed up with Scottie Pippen Jr. at Sierra Canyon HS to go 32-3 and win the California State Championship Open Division in 2019. However, Martin decided to pursue a pro career abroad instead of attending college.^[31]

After only one season on the recruiting circuit Grace was named by his fellow college basketball coaches as the number one recruiter in the Southeast after having been ranked number one on the West Coast for several years while he was at UCLA.^[32] On February 5, 2020 Vanderbilt broke its record setting SEC consecutive game losing streak (26) begun the previous season under the previous head coach and beat 18th ranked LSU 99-90 in Nashville by shooting 57% from the field and scoring more points that it has in any game in the last eight years.^[33] Though down to six scholarship players due to injuries, including the loss of the SEC's leading scorer and shooter, Aaron Nesmith, Vanderbilt won back to back SEC games over Alabama (away) and South Carolina (home) to end the regular season. "The Commodores have upset LSU (then No. 18), Alabama and the Gamecocks. They also suffered five hard-fought losses by single-digit margins to No. 6 Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri.".^[34]

In April 2020 Sports illustrated reported that Grace was one of the top 50 most impactful coaches in the country at the high D1 level joining 10 other SEC assistant coaches.^[35] In May 2020 it was reported that Coach David Grace and Special Advisor Ricardo Patton are no longer with Vanderbilt after 1 season. The university has not yet issued a statement on the departures or potential replacements.^[36]

2021 NCAA Final Four, NBA, and Other Pro Players[]

Grace recruited five of the top eight rotation players for the UCLA Bruins 2021 Final Four team, who are also #2 in ESPN's 2021-2022 rankings. His other former recruits (commits) and players who have played in the NBA as of 2021 include Jordan Adams, Lou Amundsen, Kyle Anderson, Ike Anigbogu, LaMelo Ball, Lonzo Ball, Jerryd Bayless, Jonah Bolden, Jared Cunningham, Aaron Holiday, Zach LaVine, T. J. Leaf, Saben Lee, Kevon Looney, Kenyon Martin Jr., Eric Moreland, Aaron Nesmith, Norman Powell, Travis Wear, Thomas Welsh, and Chris Smith. Five of these players were NBA Lottery picks in the Ball brothers, Bayless, LaVine, and Nesmith.

LaVine and Lamelo Ball were selected to play in the 2022 NBA All Star Game. LaVine was also selected to play in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game as well as for Team USA in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. LaMelo Ball was voted the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year with the Charlotte Hornets. In 2022 Lonzo Ball and LaVine were both starting for the Chicago Bulls who at 38-21 were currently tied for first in the Eastern Conference and had been rejuvenated, in part, due to Ball's passing at the point guard position, according to Grace. "The year before Lonzo gets to UCLA we weren’t very good. He comes in and changes the whole culture with the pass. ...We ran basically the same plays from the year before and it just goes to show you what can happen when you bring a person in and he cares more about his teammates and about passing the basketball. That’s what I think is happening now with the Bulls.” ^[37] Grace is currently conducting basketball youth camps in Arizona and hopes to return to coaching full-time again in the near future.

Personal life[]

Grace grew up in Aberdeen, and played basketball and baseball at Aberdeen High School (Maryland). He is of Native American descent (Eastern Cherokee) and has worked with the Nike N7 program for several years to honor Native Americans. He earned a bachelor's of science degree in management (human resources) from Park University, and degrees in logistics and social services from the Air Force. He and his wife, Crystal, have six grown children: Troy, Terrell, Tierra, David II, Aubrey, and Andre, as well as godson Mekai Roquemore. Grace's father Gerald was a high school basketball referee and baseball umpire in Maryland for 35 years, and his brother Jason coaches lacrosse at the NCAA level.^[38]

References[]