Brian Gregory Named Head Coach At Dayton
4/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 9, 2003
DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton has announced that Brian Gregory is its new men's basketball coach. Gregory, 36, comes to Dayton from Michigan State, where he was associate head coach on Tom Izzo's Spartan staff. While at MSU, he was part of two Final Four teams, including Michigan State's national championship team in 2000. This is his first head coaching position.
"I'm really excited that Brian has accepted the head coaching job at Dayton," said Izzo. "Sometimes it's hard to wait for the right job and he's turned down some jobs, which I think was tough on him. But this is definitely the right job for him. I think it's a great step for him, a giant step. Not only is he going to a great program, but he is going to a team that has four out of five starters returning.
"He's been put in a great situation, but Brian Gregory earned and deserved what he got, and it proves that good things do happen to guys who work hard. I'm really thankful for the job he did for me here when I started, and then we brought him back in time to win a National Championship and he helped build the program to where we are now."
Gregory is the fourth Tom Izzo assistant in eight years to take a job as a Division I head coach. Stan Joplin left after Izzo's first season to take over the Toledo program. Tom Crean left for Marquette following the 1998-99 season. This year, Crean directed the Golden Eagles to the Final Four. Following the 2000-01 season, Stan Heath became the head coach at Kent State, leading the Golden Flashes to the Elite Eight in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, before taking the Arkansas head job following that season.
"We're excited to introduce Brian Gregory as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Dayton," University of Dayton Vice-President and Director of Athletics Ted Kissell said. "He has learned from three great coaches. He knows what it takes to create a championship program. Brian Gregory is a winner."
"In addition to his professional credentials, Brian is a great fit for the University of Dayton and the Dayton community." Kissell continued. "He has demonstrated that he will recruit young men of strong personal character who will be winners on the court, in the classroom and in the community."
"I'm honored and excited to be named the head basketball coach at the University of Dayton," Gregory said. "It's a program rich in tradition with tremendous community and fan support, and a great foundation has been laid for this program."
"I've been well-prepared by my mentors-Jud Heathcote, Kevin O'Neill and Tom Izzo-and look forward to building a championship program at UD."
Gregory succeeds Oliver Purnell, who moved on to Clemson over the weekend. The Flyers are the first of this season's ranked teams to fill their coaching vacancy. UD was 24-6 overall in 2002-03, and was ranked 16th in the final Associated Press Poll, and 25th in the final ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll. Gregory is the 18th coach in Dayton history, but just the fifth in the last 56 years. Gregory's first season at Dayton will be the Flyers' 100th anniversary season.
A native of Mount Prospect, Illinois, Gregory has 13 years of coaching experience, with 12 of them coming in the Big Ten. Teams he has been with have reached the post-season in 11 of his 13 seasons. He began his coaching career in 1990 at Michigan State University on Jud Heathcote's staff until 1995, and then Tom Izzo's staff when Izzo succeeded Heathcoate.
In 1996, Gregory followed Stan Joplin when Joplin went from Michigan State to become Toledo's head coach. After one season at Toledo, Gregory returned to the Big Ten by joining Kevin O'Neill's program at Northwestern. Gregory returned to Michigan State for the 1999-2000 season when he joined Tom Izzo's staff in East Lansing. After two seasons serving as an assistant coach, Gregory was elevated to Associate Head Coach for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
In his latest stint at Michigan State, the Spartans went to the NCAA tournament all four seasons, reaching the Final Four in 2000 and 2001, and winning the NCAA national championship in 2000.
Gregory has been recognized as one of the top assistant coaches in the country. The 2002-03 Sporting News basketball preview issue named him the "#1 Assistant On The Rise." Athlon Sports' 2002-03 college basketball issue listed him as a "Top 10 Assistant." During the season, Sports Illustrated referred to him as one of the top five assistants ready for a head coaching position.
As a recruiter, he has been part of four Top Ten recruiting classes at Michigan State. He also helped bring a Top Twenty recruiting class to Northwestern.
Gregory graduated from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education. While at Oakland, he was a three-time all-conference selection, and was named an Academic All-American in 1990. He was inducted into Oakland's Hall of Fame in 1997. Before transferring to Oakland, Gregory spent one year at the United States Naval Academy, and was a teammate of David Robinson on Navy's 1985-86 team that advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. He also holds a master's degree in Athletic Administration from Michigan State ('92).
Brian and his wife Yvette have an 18-month-old daughter named Isabella.
The Flyers return four starters--Ramod Marshall, Keith Waleskowski, Sean Finn and Mark Jones--next season, all of whom averaged double figures during the Atlantic 10 Conference season and during the post-season. Waleskowski, Marshall and Finn are all two-year starters. Waleskowski and Marshall enter their senior seasons 31st and 32nd respectively in career scoring at Dayton, with 1,076 and 1,071 points. Finn has had the first-and-third-best Flyer seasons in shot blocking (a school-record 46 in 2001-02, and 44 in 2002-03), and set the UD mark for consecutive field goals made (18) during 2002-03.