Grant McCasland asks, 'Would we rather have everybody excited in May or in April?'
Grant McCasland is aware of restlessness in the Texas Tech fan base. The new Texas Tech basketball coach still has staff positions to hire and a roster to fill out.
Be patient, he told a gathering of Tech fans on Thursday night in Lubbock. The message: He's done this before and knows what he's doing.
"Don't read Twitter. ... People have been like, 'Coach, do we have any players?' ... 'Do we have a staff?' " McCasland told the crowd. "You know what I want to do here at Texas Tech? ... We want to win the last game of the year, and we will pour everything we have into making that happen. ... It's going to take us a little bit to make sure we get the right people. Does everybody understand that part?
"Would we rather have everybody excited in May, or in April? You get what I'm saying? You know when the national championship game is? It's in April. So that's what I want."
McCasland is 354-121 in 14 seasons as a head coach at Midland College (2004-09), Midwestern State (2009-11), Arkansas State (2016-17) and North Texas (2017-23). His teams' average season record during that span is 25-9.
He also was a Baylor assistant from 2011-16 on teams that made the NCAA Tournament four times, finishing in the Elite Eight once and in the Sweet 16 once.
Tech hired McCasland on March 31, right after he led North Texas to the championship of the National Invitation Tournament, capping a 31-7 season.
McCasland said he has nine scholarship players, counting freshman signees Drew Steffe and Jason Jackson.
Four other full- or part-time starters on last season's Tech team departed with eligibility remaining: De'Vion Harmon to pursue pro ball, Fardaws Aimaq and Jaylon Tyson as transfers to California and Daniel Batcho as a transfer to Louisiana Tech. They were four of the Red Raiders' top six scorers with Harmon, Aimaq and Tyson averaging in double digits.
Since his hiring, McCasland has added a pair of transfers: 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward Darrion Williams, who was the Mountain West Conference freshman of the year for Nevada, and Chance McMillian, a 6-3, 185-pound guard from Grand Canyon.
Williams averaged 7.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season, and McMillian averaged 10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from 3-point range. Both their teams made the NCAA Tournament, Williams' Nevada squad going 22-11 and McMillian's Grand Canyon team finishing 24-12.
There's about one-fourth of a roster left to assemble. In addition, McCasland still has a vacancy at one of the top three assistant-coach positions, plus two new positions for assistants who can coach but not recruit off campus. The NCAA Division I Council supported that staff size increase earlier this year.
Classes in Texas Tech's first summer session commence May 30. Bearing that in mind, McCasland said he plans to have a staff announced by June 1, though likely not before.
"I've talked to a lot of people, and everybody is excited, but they kind of give me this nervous look," McCasland said. "Like, 'Coach, do you know what you're doing?' Yeah. I gotcha. I hear what you're saying. I've seen it. I feel it, but I will tell you this: We have a plan that will be to win a national championship at Texas Tech.
"We've had success everywhere we've been. ... Does that mean we'll be successful here? No, it does not. But I can tell you, we know the formula for what it means to win in the Big 12, and if you win in the Big 12, you know what you can do? Win a national championship.
"I've played in the Big 12. I've coached in the Big 12, and I've recruited in the Big 12. And I've been a part of a program that won a national championship. For that to happen, it takes all of us."
McCasland made the comments during the kickoff of the Red Raider Club Wreck 'Em Tour, the first of 10 gatherings in 10 cities over the next two months.
"I love everybody on Twitter," he said. "You may think, 'Coach, you're crazy, because no one likes you on Twitter.' Well, that's all right for right now. But you know when I want to have everybody excited? April."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland asks, 'Would we rather have everybody more excited in May or in April?'
