Getting to know new Cal MBB assistant coach David Grace

Earlier this week, new Cal men’s basketball assistant coach David Grace took the time to chat with GoldenBearReport.com about his coaching background, what he enjoys most about coaching, and what he wants to accomplish now that he’s at Cal. Grace brings more than 10 years of college coaching experience and has spent 10 years in the Pac-12 both at Oregon State and UCLA. Known as an ace recruiter, Grace has strong connections on the West Coast and AAU scene. Below is a transcription of our interview with him.

Question: Talk about your background, what got you into coaching, etc.

David Grace: Well, you know, actually I was born in Aberdeen, Maryland right outside of Baltimore and when I was five my mom and my father divorced. So then my mom remarried. And the reason why I’m saying that is I started moving since then because she married a military guy. And we lived in Kansas. A lot of different places.

So then when I graduated high school I graduated in Leesville, Louisiana and I went to three different high schools in three different states and back then we didn’t have AAU. So I was thinking about walking on as a walk on at Northwestern State in Louisiana, in Natchitoches, Louisiana. But we had dinner one time and my mom said, “Hey, what are you going to do?” I said “I’m going to walk on” and she said, “How are you going to pay for that?” and I said “You are” and she said, “No, I’m not.” So she says, “I can’t afford it.”

So then the next day me and my friend were saying “Well let’s join the military,” so I went back and told my mom “Hey, I’m going to join the Air Force,” and she said “You’re not smart enough to join the Air Force,” and I said “Well yeah I am.” Reverse psychology. She knew if she told me that I’d go prove her wrong. And I did. I went and took the test, proved her wrong, came back with the results a couple of months later.

About a month later because you have to wait on them and I put it on the table for dinner and she said, “What’s this?” I said, “I passed the test. I’m going to be accepted into the Air Force.” And she says “Good. When are you leaving?” And I said, “I’m not going into the Air Force. I just wanted to prove to you that I was smart enough to go into the Air Force.” So then I said, “Yeah, I’ll join the military.” So, it was the greatest thing I ever did. So from that day on I spent twenty years in the United States Air Force.

And in 1997, I was stationed in Langley Air Force Base in New Hampton, Virginia. And my first day with the supervisor he was telling me responsibilities and then afterwards he had plaques on the wall. One of his plaques was a coaching plaque. And I received that same coaching plaque coaching my five year old at another base. And so I said, “Oh, you coach basketball.” He said, “Oh yeah. I coached for Boo Williams AAU program. The best AAU program in the country.”

I didn’t know what AAU was, I didn’t know who Boo Williams was, but he asked me if I wanted to be his assistant coach. So at that point I told him “No, I’m going to be a referee,” because I was doing referee stuff. He asked me again and then I accepted. Then that summer, Boo Williams had his tournament. His annual tournament. He still has it today. And I was in there watching, because I was coaching the younger teams. This was the 17 year olds. These were the older kids, and Dean Smith walks in the door, John Thompson walks in the door, Krzyzewski walks in the door, all the top college guys are coming to watch the kids play like they do today.

And I’m sitting there and I had like a dream and I just said “You know what, that’s what I want to do. I want to be a college coach.” And then five minutes later I said, “Well, if I’m going to be a college coach, I want to be a head division one coach.” So that was 1997.

So that’s when my dream took off. So I was still in the Air Force. So then I got promoted the year after and they were doing a drawdown so I had to cross train in a new career field and then I got assignment to Phoenix, Arizona. And I started coaching the AAU there as well. Then I got on with the Compton Magic, but I started the Arizona Magic, a sidelight of the Compton Magic and we were called the Arizona Magic. We were very very very talented. We had Jerryd Bayless who went on to play at Arizona, now he plays for the Philadelphia 76ers; Louis Amundson had a great ten-year pro career in the NBA, he played at UNLV, so more and more and more.

Well at that point in time, Lute Olson was the head coach at Arizona and Rob Evans was the head coach at Arizona State and they took a liking to me and I told them my dream. So they helped me. They helped me along the way. So then when I retired from the Air Force, I became, well, when I was in the Air Force I was an assistant high school coach at Trevor Browne High School while I was still in the military. And then I retired from the military and became the head high school coach at South Mountain High School in south Phoenix. When I took over the program we were 4-17 or they were 4-17. Two years later we were 29-4 and we won the state title. In an inner city school. One of the toughest schools in the whole state of Arizona.

So at that point in time, the next year I got, well, during the fall of that year, I got an offer to go be an assistant coach at Sacramento State University. I took a twenty thousand dollar pay cut; I slept on the floor in the locker room the whole year and was able to recruit Vinnie McGhee from McClymonds High School up here in the Bay in Oakland. That’s my first recruit and he became freshman player of the year in the Big Sky.

The following year I got a call from Jessie Evans to be the assistant coach at San Francisco and he kinda got me off the floor in the locker room and started paying me some decent money over at San Francisco. And I spent a year there, but the problem is that year was when Eddie Sutton came along and so they had a coaching change and I was without a team, a school.

That spring, Craig Robinson gets the head-coaching job at Oregon State. He heard about me, flew down to Phoenix and we interviewed at the airport and he hired me as a Director of Basketball Ops and then he flew back to Corvallis, Oregon. So then I became the Director of Basketball Ops at Corvallis. That was in June. So July comes where we had to go recruiting and obviously DOBs don’t recruit, but he was going to hire another guy that he knew before, but he was still coaching AAU at the time. So, I asked him if I could go out on the road just because he hadn’t hired a third assistant yet.

So I go out on the road and very fortunate enough I get Roberto Nelson, the two-time Pac-12 scoring champion and Joe Burton to commit. And he set all kinds of records at Oregon State as well and then I became the assistant coach at Oregon State when the guy that he was going to hire never came. So I spent five years at Oregon State, coached and recruited some great kids, one of them is Jared Cunningham, who went to San Leandro High School here in Oakland area, and then he went 24th in the NBA Draft. 1st round draft pick and then another one to say is Eric Moreland as well. I recruited him and he plays for the Detroit Pistons now. He never started a game in high school.

So then five years at Oregon State, then Steve Alford hires me at UCLA and we had a great five year run there and very fortunate enough to recruit kids like Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf, Ike Anigbogu, Kevon Looney, who plays for the Golden State Warriors and the list goes on and on and on. But I’m just as proud, not just the recruiting part, but also being able to be an assistant coach and to do scouts, do game prep, do practice prep, be on court practice coach, as well as game planning and do all facets. Help fundraise, help with scheduling, help with academics. I was the academic coordinator at Sac State and at University of San Francisco. So, I’m very proud of the other stuff we do as well, but I built a good reputation to be a recruiter as well. So now I’m here!

Question: As far as your last job at UCLA, what can you take from that experience and apply it to your new job here at Cal?

David Grace: It was a tremendous experience. I really enjoyed the people there at UCLA. I had a great time. A big part that I’ll take from it is it’s a UC school. So I already know the ins and outs of the UC system. The academic side of the house and how UC schools go about their business on the athletic side as well. So, I have seamless transition to another UC school. So that’s a big plus for me. I just finished my tenth year in the Pac-12 and this is my third school, so I’m very familiar with the Pac-12. Probably more familiar than most. So those are some of the things and then you know, we recruited the same type of kids as well, so knowing the teams in the league, knowing the locations of the schools, knowing their history, knowing the history of the other Pac-12 schools and knowing the history of Cal makes it an easy transition. So that’s what I’m going to take from UCLA.

Question: As far as Wyking is concerned, can you talk about how he reached out to you, how you know him, can you talk about that relationship?

David Grace: Well, Wyking and I have known each other for a while. We recruited against each other in the Pac-12 and when he was at Louisville he’d always recruit the top-level kids. So, I’ve met him on the recruiting trail, we have a lot of the same friends that are in the business and the same colleagues that are in the business. So this is not a get to know you type of deal here. Craig Robinson didn’t know me, Jerome Jenkins when he hired me at Sac State didn’t know me, Steve Alford didn’t know me, and now I get a new boss that does know me, so that’s a good thing.

Question: Now that you are here, what are you most looking forward to about being at Cal?

David Grace: I’m looking forward to meeting the people here; I hear they’re outstanding. Everybody I’ve met so far has been outstanding. I know some of the people already. I’ve known Jay John for years and the ladies’ assistant coach and Jordan Jackson, our strength coach, I’ve worked with him at UCLA as well. I’ve lived in the Bay, I’ve recruited in the Bay, and I’ve been around Cal a lot, so I’m excited for the great opportunity.

We have a chance to really put this place back on the map and we have a great leader in Wyking Jones and we’re going to get it to where it needs to be. We have great experience on staff. You got Chris Walker with twenty years experience, you got Marty Wilson with twenty years experience and head coaching experience and Chris Walker was an interim head coach, so my ten years in the league, I think we bring a lot of experience and I think the big overall thing is we’re all good people. So, I’m just excited to be a part of that. I’m excited to be a part of a school with great tradition and great pride, and I love being around a school that takes pride in their academics as well.

Question: What do you like most about being a coach?

David Grace: I’m a people person, so I get a big enjoyment of seeing other people successful. I don’t have to do this no more. I have a retirement check from the Air Force. I can go kick back and maybe work at Walmart or something, but I have a great desire, I just get a big joy of seeing other people successful. Especially young people that love the same game that I do in basketball and to be able to help them in any way, shape, and form. To get them to their dreams and their goals is a big high for me. I was able to go to the NBA Draft, the last NBA Draft, and see three kids that I worked a long time in recruiting walk across the stage in Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf, and Ike Anigbogu. Get to walk across the stage and be drafted and see their dreams become reality and be NBA pros. And then, even the players that I coached that didn’t make it to the league, to see how successful they are in life and how they raise their families and how they become a family and be a part of family and their families and see how they’re successful in our society as well brings great joy to me.

Question: What are some goals that you have now that you are at Cal?

David Grace: My short-term goal is to get this program above twenty games winning. If we can make the dance this year, that would be a goal as well. To see our kids progress academically and on the court and socially. To really really get this program going back to elite status like I’ve seen it before. That’s a big goal of mine and to do my part and that’s a goal. I want to become a big part of the Cal community as far as being involved, you know what I mean? I want to be really in the community and really get to know everybody and pull my weight in the things that we want to do as Cal Bears. And that’s what I’m really really excited about. And then long-term, one day I’d like to be a head coach at a university. Just like I said in my dream. Have that come true, but right now I want to be a Cal Bear and a championship Cal Bear and hopefully, I want to put a banner up in Haas Pavilion.