It didn’t take long for Grant McCasland to see his vision come to fruition at Texas Tech. In just his second year at the helm, he has the Red Raiders in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022.

For McCasland, it’s his first trip to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend as a head coach. But this year marks his second straight tournament appearance with Texas Tech, and his third total thanks to a 2021 berth as the head coach at North Texas.

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“What he’s done in two short years at Texas Tech has been incredible,” Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal last week. “Feel very fortunate and blessed that he’s our head men’s basketball coach. I sleep very well at night knowing that he has the keys to that program.”

After wins over No. 14-seed UNC Wilmington and No. 11-seed Drake, the next test for the No. 3-seeded Red Raiders is an upset-minded Arkansas team (10:09 p.m. ET Thursday), a No. 10 seed that knocked off No. 7-seed Marquette and No. 2-seed St. John’s to reach the Sweet 16. Win or lose, McCasland will coach with his faith in Jesus leading the way.

He was open about his faith while at North Texas, and made it clear in his introductory press conference at Texas Tech that nothing would change for him even if the stage was bigger and the lights were brighter. Looking to the players he inherited on his roster, he thanked them for their patience in the coaching search process and told the crowd how he planned to approach his job: relationships first.

“God’s called us all to something,” he said. “I know that our purpose is to pour our hearts into you guys every single day. We love winning, but the only way you can truly win is if you love people with all your heart, and I believe that.”

McCasland recited a similar refrain while on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in 2020 when he was with North Texas.

“If I can go and love my wife the way I’m supposed to and love my kids, then I feel like that will carry over and God will honor it with how I coach our team and how I prepare them,” McCasland said. “And that there’s space for the priorities that need to be in that order. If I can do that in that order, He’ll continue to honor what we’re doing as basketball coaches and maybe as a basketball program.”

McCasland’s time at North Texas included two regular-season championships and one conference tournament championship, capped off by him being named the 2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year. He went 23-11 in his first year at Texas Tech and has his team at 27-8 heading into Thursday’s game. He was also named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award this season.

A huge congratulations to @CoachGrantMac for being named a Naismith Coach of the Year Semifinalist!@NaismithTrophy | #WernerLadderNaismith2025 pic.twitter.com/W6obCZsM2D

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 14, 2025

He’s won everywhere he’s been, and he’s done it “the right way with character and toughness,” according to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which honored him with the 2024 John Lotz “Barnabas” Coaching Award, named after the former North Carolina assistant and Florida head coach. It’s “given annually to honor a basketball coach who best exhibits a commitment to Christ, integrity and encouragement to others, and lives a balanced life.”

“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored a coach whose influence has made not just a positive, but eternal, impact on his players over his successful career,” FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson said. “We congratulate Grant McCasland for not only his coaching talent but for the way he has invested his time and effort into the lives of his players for God’s Kingdom.”

FCA also praised McCasland for being willing to share his testimony and speak at local FCA events, including an FCA-sponsored on-campus event that brought a couple thousand college students to Texas Tech’s basketball arena.

“The way he treats his players, staff, media and fans around his program is with kindness and respect that honors the Lord,” the FCA press release read. “The core values his program culture is built on are all biblically based and modeled in his own life.”

A son and grandson of Baptist preachers, McCasland said his life revolved around church and sports growing up. But an ACL tear in seventh grade put his playing career in jeopardy, and he said that was when God started to break down the idol that sports had become to him.

“Then I was like, ‘What am I? If I’m not sports, then what am I?’” McCasland recalled on the podcast. “… To say I’d put my faith in Him, I think that was the turning point where I decided that, ‘OK, I get it now. Jesus can’t be a part of what I am, He has to be who I live my life for and give my heart to completely.'”

Now seemingly at the peak of his sporting career, he hasn’t forgotten what grounds him.

“There’s no better journey than to live a life of sacrifice to Christ,” McCasland in the FCA award announcement. “This honor is a huge blessing, but, ultimately, all of our hearts must point to Christ and give Him the glory for what He does in and through us.”

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