Tennessee Basketball announced the hiring of new assistant coach Earl Grant on Thursday afternoon. Grant comes to Tennessee after spending the last five seasons as the head coach at Boston College. The 49-year-old coach replaces former assistant coach Justin Gainey, who was hired as NC State’s head coach following the 2025-2026 season.
“Earl Grant is a perfect fit for Tennessee basketball and I’m so glad he is coming aboard,” Tennessee HC Rick Barnes said in a statement on Thursday. “I called him recently just to talk and, as we continued our conversation, I realized he was just the person we needed on our staff. I’ve known Earl for a long time and always had a great deal of respect for him.”
Shortly after Tennessee announced Grant’s hiring, the new UT coach was introduced to the media and held a 12-minute opening press conference. During that time, Grant spoke about his journey and how he was led to Tennessee, why he chose the Vols as his next job, his longtime relationship with Barnes, his thoughts on Tennessee’s returning and incoming players, and much more.
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Check out the full press conference below:
Tennessee AC Earl Grant
