Greg Grensing, who brings a wealth of experience after assistant coaching stints at Creighton, Kansas State and most recently UNLV, will join the Blue Raider men's basketball team as an assistant coach, head coach Kermit Davis announced Wednesday.
"Greg and I have been really good friends for a long time and I've always had great respect for him as an outstanding recruiter," Davis said. "He is a terrific coach on the floor and has impacted three really good programs - UNLV, Creighton and Kansas State - in a positive way. I think Greg will make some outstanding contributions to our program.
"With the addition of Greg to the staff, I really feel we've put together one of the best coaching staffs in college basketball. Monte Towe has been a Division I head coach and part of some highly successful teams. Win Case won two national championships as the head coach at Oklahoma City University and was a big part of our nationally ranked recruiting class this year. We also have a good young coach in Mike Scutero as the director of operations."
Grensing spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach at UNLV. Grensing joined the Runnin' Rebels after spending 11 seasons on the Creighton University men's basketball coaching staff, including the 2004-05 season as the associate head coach.
"My friendship with Kermit goes back a number of years and I'm excited about the opportunity to be at a school that has a chance to put together an elite basketball program in the Sun Belt," Grensing said. "I believe this program has a chance to elevate and contend year in and year out for the Sun Belt title and NCAA tournament berths.
"My family also is excited about the move. We had conversations about where we would like to live, and we had friends that spoke highly of the Murfreesboro area. It all came together in one swing."
During his time at Creighton, Grensing worked for former head coach Dana Altman, which was a partnership that dated back to 1986-87 when they started three seasons of work as assistant coaches under UNLV head coach Lon Kruger at Kansas State University.
When Kruger left KSU, Grensing remained in Manhattan, Kan., as a member of Altman's staff and was with him for 15 years at KSU and Creighton.
Grensing has coached in a total of 14 NCAA Tournaments, six while at Creighton and three with the Runnin' Rebels. As the recruiting coordinator at Creighton, he brought in talented basketball players as well as talented students. The Bluejays played in the postseason in each of his last eight years there (six NCAA Tournaments) and had an Academic All-District selection in seven of those eight seasons. Two of his more notable recruits to Creighton are current NBA player Kyle Korver (currently with the Chicago Bulls) and former NBA player Rodney Buford (New Jersey Nets).
The 54-year-old native of Council Grove, Kan., graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and began his coaching career with a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at his alma mater. In 1981, after receiving his master's degree in physical education from Southwest Texas State, Grensing spent one season as an assistant at Laredo (Texas) Junior College, then two years as an assistant at Idaho State University from 1982-84.
Following the 1983-84 season, Grensing joined Kruger's staff at Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas. After serving two years at Pan American, Kruger was named head coach at Kansas State and hired Grensing as an assistant for the Wildcats.
Grensing started his collegiate playing career as a guard at Independence (Kan.) Community College, helping the Pirates to a 62-6 record and the 1977 national title as the team's sixth man.
Following the 1977 season, Grensing transferred to Southwest Texas State and led the Bobcats to a 49-13 record in two seasons, including a third-place finish in the 1979 NAIA national tournament.
Grensing is married to the former Michelle Taylor, and the couple has two daughters, Aubrey (16) and Gentry (14), and one son, Tryce (4). Grensing also has a 38-year-old stepson, Justin Nielson.
