David Norman Arseneault (born July 18, 1986), also known as David Arseneault Jr., is an American–Canadian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is the head coach for the Grinnell Pioneers. He previously played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Pioneers under his father, David Sr., and later served as an associate head coach under him at Grinnell. Arseneault was later the head coach of the Reno Bighorns in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

for two seasons (2014–2016) before returning to Grinnell. He became the Pioneers' head coach after his father retired in 2018.

Early life and education

Arseneault was born in Toronto, and is a

dual citizen Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

of Canada and the United States. He played basketball at Grinnell High School before attending

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

. As a player under his dad's fast-paced Grinnell System, Arseneault was named a three-time finalist for the

Bob Cousy Award The Bob Cousy Award, sponsored by the College of the Holy Cross, is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate point guard. It is named after six-time National Basketball Assoc ...

, which is given annually to the nation's top

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

. In 2008, he set an NCAA record with 34 assists in a 151–112 victory over

North Central University North Central University (NCU) is a Private university, private Christian university in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is owned and operated by 11 Assemblies of God USA, Assemblies of God districts of the upper Midwest. NCU was found ...

. He finished his college career at Grinnell as the Division III leader in career assists average (9.4).

Coaching career

Upon graduating in 2009, Arseneault started as an assistant coach under his dad at Grinnell in the fall of the same year. He also played one year in a semi-professional league in Germany with TV Hohenlimburg. Arseneault was named the interim coach starting in the second semester of the 2011–12 season while the elder Arseneault was on

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

leave. He was named an associate head coach in the 2012–13 season. '' The Express-Times'' that season wrote that Arseneault "essentially runs the program." In 2013–14, Rick Reilly of

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

wrote that Arseneault "does the coaching" while his father "watches three feet from the far end of the bench, sometimes with his granddaughter on his lap." Arseneault was also an assistant coach for women's and men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

at Grinnell, as well as an assistant

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. On October 17, 2014, Arseneault was named the head coach for the Reno Bighorns. He planned to run a modified version of the Grinnell System, and called the upcoming season an "experiment". Limited to a 10-man roster and subject to the D-League's high roster turnover, Arseneault adjusted the system, abandoning its hockey-style substitutions and full-court press. He coached two years with Reno, leading the league in scoring in both seasons while compiling a 55–47 overall record. The team was 33–17 in 2015–16, which was one win short of the franchise record. After the season, Arsenault's contract was not renewed. Arsenault returned to Grinnell as their interim head coach for 2016–17, when his father was scheduled to be on another sabbatical leave. He became the Pioneers' head coach after the elder Areseneault retired in June 2018.

References

External links

Grinnell Pioneers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arseneault Jr., David 1986 births Living people American men's basketball players Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian expatriate basketball people in Germany Canadian men's basketball coaches Canadian men's basketball players Grinnell Pioneers men's basketball coaches Grinnell Pioneers men's basketball players Point guards Reno Bighorns coaches Basketball players from Toronto 21st-century Canadian sportsmen