Sifting through the junk drawer today and looks like we missed a couple of Director of Basketball Operations hirings that happened prior to the start of the 2015-16 basketball season.  Southern Illinois-Edwardsville hired Nick Giard, while Wagner College has added Richard Grant.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

Nick Giard comes to SIUE as the DBO after spending the two years as a graduate assistant at South Florida.

While with the Bulls, Giard had the opportunity to help ease the transition for first-year Head Coach Orlando Antigua. His responsibilities included video editing, film exchange, player development, recruiting mail-outs, and assisting with the coordination of camps, recruiting visits and other operational duties. Giard also was responsible for leading the group of undergraduate managers at USF.

While an undergraduate, Giard was a member of the Michigan State basketball program as a walk-on player in 2010-11, playing in five games and making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Giard spent the summer of 2012 working for The Hoop Group at Albright College in Reading, Penn.

Wagner College

Richard Grant has been named as the DBO at Wagner College.  In this role, Grant will serve as the liaison between the coaching staff and student-athletes while coordinating the team’s travel schedule. Grant will be in charge of creating detailed scouting reports on the upcoming Seahawks opponents. In addition, he will supervise the three undergraduate managers and reviewing student-athletes academic progress.

He arrives to Wagner after spending last season coaching at Saint Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, NJ, where he led the Marauders to a 14-14 season and a second round appearance in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Tournament.

Grant, a native of Chestnut Ridge, NY, graduated from Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, NJ before spending a year at Maine Central Institute (Pittsfield) in 2007 where he was named to the All-Single A Nepsac Honorable Mention Team.

From Maine Central Institute, Grant spent the next three-years at the University of Bridgeport, where the Purple Knights won the conference during the 2008-09 season.  He concluded his academics at Ramapo College, where majored in Communications and minored in Media Arts while appearing in 21 games for the Roadrunners.