William Theodore Grier (born October 19, 1963) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He is currently an assistant coach at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

and was formerly the head men's basketball coach at the University of San Diego.

Early career

Grier was born in

Silverton, Oregon Silverton is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. The city is situated along the 45th parallel about northeast of Salem, in the eastern margins of the broad alluvial plain of the Willamette Valley. The city is named after Silver Cre ...

, and he attended

Cottage Grove High School Cottage Grove High School is a public high school located in Cottage Grove, Oregon, United States. History The new school building, opened in 2003, replacing the old high school building which had been built in 1939 and held its first classes in ...

in Cottage Grove, Oregon. He began coaching freshman basketball at his alma mater in 1986. He left to attend Central Oregon Community College and Southwestern Oregon Community College, where he played basketball, before earning a Bachelor of Science degree from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1990.

College coaching career

Grier coached at Creswell High School in

Creswell, Oregon Creswell is a city in the Willamette Valley of Lane County, Oregon, United States, located south of Eugene, Oregon. The population at the 2010 census was 5,031. History The first store opened at Creswell in 1872, and a town sprang up around it ...

before becoming an assistant college coach at

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the ...

in 1992. He remained at Gonzaga until 2007, when he was hired to coach at USD. In his first season, Grier coached the Toreros to an upset of Gonzaga in the finals of the WCC tournament. The Toreros received a #13 seed in the

2008 NCAA men's basketball tournament The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball ...

and upset #4 seed Connecticut in the first round. In April 2008, Grier explored the opening at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

but decided to remain at San Diego. On March 16, 2015, the University of San Diego announced they parted ways with Grier. On August 24, 2015, Grier was announced as an assistant at Oklahoma State University, pending approved by the board of trustees. On March 28, 2016, Grier was hired as an assistant coach for the University of Colorado under Buffaloes head coach

Tad Boyle Thomas Martin "Tad" Boyle (born January 6, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the men's head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Pac-12 Conference. He was named the 18th coach in Colorado men's basketball history on April 19 ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grier, Bill 1963 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oregon Basketball players from Oregon Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Junior college men's basketball players in the United States People from Cottage Grove, Oregon People from Creswell, Oregon People from Silverton, Oregon San Diego Toreros men's basketball coaches University of Oregon alumni