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Earl Grant: Character wasn’t the problem. Winning was.

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6 months ago

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The buzzer sounds as Fred Payne’s half-court prayer goes unanswered. Boston College men’s basketball loses to the Tulane Green Wave, 93-90. The Eagles finished last in the Charleston Classic midseason tournament with a record of 0-2.

Head coach Earl Grant sits on a Zoom call in a back office at the University of Charleston. A media member asks what his message is to the players after the team’s 3-4 start to the season.

“Stay the course,” Grant said. “It ain’t never as bad as what you think it is. It ain’t ever as good as what you think it is. And so these close games are obviously heartbreaking, because you have chances to win those games, and we don’t finish.”

The Eagles stayed the course with Grant for the rest of the season, just as they had the previous few years, despite clamoring from fans to give him the boot. In the end, however, following an 11-20 season and a second straight year missing the ACC tournament, BC caved to fan pressure and fired Grant after his fifth season as the leader of the men’s basketball program.

During his tenure, Grant led the program to just one winning season: a 20-16 record in 2023-24. Despite his lack of success, his players’ faith in him never wavered.

“I trust Coach Grant with my life,” BC guard and 2024-25 ACC Most Improved Player Donald Hand Jr. said. “Imma ride with him till the end.”

Jayden Hastings, a redshirt sophomore forward from Orlando, said the team’s collective faith is what drove its trust in Grant.

“He’s a man of God,” Hastings said on the Beacon Street Buzz podcast. “[Knowing that] allows us to follow what coach says because we trust him.”

Loyalty, however, can only protect a coach for so long.

For all of Grant’s qualities as a person, his clever one-liners, his faith, and the genuine care he shows his players, the results simply did not follow. Grant is, by every account, a great human being. He built deep relationships within the BC community and created a program rooted in character. Sadly, character can carry a program only so far. In the end, college basketball is measured in wins, not morals.

“Earl Grant is a nice guy,” A.J. Black, a writer for 247Sports and host of the Locked On Boston College podcast, said. “I don’t want to see him lose his job, but from a program perspective, you need to jolt something.”

Black’s perspective is one I share. Grant, by all accounts, is a good man. He is terrific at press conferences, delivering lines such as, “We’re not underdogs, we’re under God.”

Every interaction I have had with him, or with one of his players, has left me feeling like Grant is the type of man you would want to grab a beer with and get advice from. At some point, however, being a good coach matters more than being a good guy.

I have felt this way about Grant for a couple of years, though I was willing to give him grace, especially during his one winning season. I remember a moment during that season, however, that tipped me off to the kind of coach Grant was.

On Feb. 6, 2024, with 5.8 seconds remaining, the Eagles trailed Florida State 63-62 at home. After a timeout called by Grant, BC inbounded the ball to future NBA player Quinten Post. He attempted to pass to his point guard, but the ball was lost, and the Eagles were unable to get a shot off before time expired.

In the press conference that followed, a media member asked Post what BC was looking for on that final play.

“Couldn’t exactly tell you,” Post said.

How does your star player not know the play on the final possession?

That lapse was, for me, the first sign that Grant might not be the coach to return BC to its glory days. The Eagles have the second-longest active NCAA Tournament drought, behind only DePaul. It has been 17 years since BC last reached the tournament, and with Grant leading the program, there was little indication that streak would end soon.

The Eagles finished the 2025-2026 season second to last in the ACC and ranked last in the conference in points per game, team field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and assists, while ranking near the bottom in several other key categories.

I like Earl Grant as a person, but he was not a good coach at BC. Certainly, Grant does not deserve all the blame. Boston College’s lack of financial commitment to the program, especially after the 20-win season, when nearly all of its key players left, played a major role in his lack of success. Now, however, Boston College must find the right person to restore fans’ faith in the program.

As NBA champion and Hall of Famer Pat Riley once said, “The measure of a coach is not the man, it’s the team.”

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Basketball

Boston College lands one of nation’s top rebounders in Brandon Benjamin, along with former Charleston forward Colby Duggan

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5 months ago

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April 19, 2026

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Boston College received two more transfer commitments this weekend in Brandon Benjamin and Colby Duggan. Benjamin and Duggan join Money Williams, Ernest Shelton and JB Frankel as the fourth and fifth transfers to commit to Luke Murray and BC this offseason. The Eagles now have seven players on their roster, including international signing Zak Smrekar and Jack Bailey, the only BC player from last year not to enter the portal.

Benjamin, a 6-foot-8 forward from Newark, N.J., played his only collegiate season last year at Fairfield University. The rising sophomore was named to the 2025-26 MAAC All-Rookie Team and All-MAAC Second Team after averaging 14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 56.5% from the field. Benjamin ranked first in the MAAC and eighth in the country in rebounds per game and second in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.25).

“What made me pick BC first was the coaching staff,” Benjamin told ZAGSBLOG on Sunday. “It really felt like family. I will bring my high motor, plus rebounding, finishing around the rim and taking guys off the dribble. [I also bring] my catch-and-shooting, pick-and-pop, my winning impact and my versatility with guarding 1-5 with the ability to block shots.”

Duggan, a 6-foot-7 forward from Monson, Mass., averaged 9.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 19 games for Charleston last season after missing the first part of the year with an injury. He spent the previous two seasons at Campbell University and averaged 15.7 points and 3.3 rebounds on 34% shooting from 3-point range during the 2024-25 season.

“He competes on both ends of the court at all times,” former Charleston head coach and current USF head coach Chris Mack said. “He’s a warrior. He’s a winner. Defensively, Colby doesn’t back down. He guards well in the post and on the perimeter. Offensively, he led the conference in scoring and is just scratching the surface of what he can be as a mismatch.”

Benjamin should slot into the starting lineup as the power forward or a small-ball big thanks to his impressive rebounding ability, while Duggan comes to BC as a depth piece off the bench.

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Former Merrimack sharpshooter Ernest Shelton commits to Boston College

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5 months ago

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April 17, 2026

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Guard Ernest Shelton announced his commitment to Boston College early Thursday night. The former Merrimack Warrior became the fourth transfer to commit to head coach Luke Murray and the Eagles, joining Zak Smrekar, Money Williams and JB Frankel. Shelton was named to the 2025-26 All-MAAC first team while helping lead the Warriors to a MAAC regular-season championship.

Shelton played two seasons at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, on the opposite side of the state from his hometown of Philadelphia, before transferring to Merrimack last offseason. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 15.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 34.6% from behind the 3-point line.

“[Shelton]’s a shooter,” Merrimack head coach Joe Gallo said. “Every time it comes out of his hand, you think it’s going in.”

Shelton knocked down 99 3-pointers for Merrimack last season and was among the top 40 in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.9). He set a career high last season with nine 3-pointers in a game against Boston University and made five or more 3-pointers in six games.

The sharpshooter is a breath of fresh air for a Boston College program that finished last in the ACC in 3-point percentage last season.

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Boston College lands Zak Smrekar, Money Williams, and JB Frankel, first three transfer commitments of Luke Murray era

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5 months ago

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April 16, 2026

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Boston College received its first three transfer commitments of the 2026 transfer portal cycle on Thursday in Zak Smrekar, Money Williams, and JB Frankel. Smrekar, Williams, and Frankel are the first three players to commit to BC since Luke Murray was named head coach on March 26 and join Jack Bailey as the only three players currently on the Eagles’ roster.

Smrekar is a 19-year-old, 6-foot-7 guard from Slovenia and was the first to commit to Murray. He played for the club Krka Novo Mesto in the Slovenian ABA for three seasons and averaged 9.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 15 games in the 2025-26 season. Smrekar also played for Slovenia in the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup and averaged 16.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in seven games.

Williams is a 20-year-old, 6-foot-4 guard who played the last three seasons for Montana. The Oakland, California, native was named to the 2025-26 All-Big Sky First Team after averaging 20.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game on 49.8% shooting from the field. Williams scored a career-high 40 points against Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament, along with tallying six other 30-point games last season.

“I can’t come up with enough words to praise Money Williams properly,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said in October 2025. “When you talk about the young man that he is off the court, the young man he is when you bring him in the office, and you have real conversations with him and look him in the eye and talk about things that are hard to talk about.”

Frankel is a 21-year-old, 6-foot-3 guard who is not moving far, as he played the last three years at Northeastern. He started 13 of 30 games for the Huskies last season and averaged 5.9 points, 2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. The New York City native scored a season-high 13 points in a road win against Harvard.

Coach Murray will have to continue to build up the Eagles roster, but with three guards being picked up, look for the Eagles to hone in on finding their starting forwards and big men.

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