Dave Grant spent over four decades as a coach across the collegiate and high school baseball ranks. In 35 seasons as head coach at Glendale Community College in Arizona, Grant eclipsed the 1,000 career win mark and sent more than 400 student-athletes on to four-year universities.
Grant’s tenure at Glendale Community College began in 1979-80. His teams advanced to either conference or regional postseason competition 17 times, making appearances in the NJCAA World Series in 1991 and 2003.
During his career at Glendale, four of Grant’s players were named All-Americans and two received ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. He also helped four players reach the major leagues and 31 signed professional baseball contracts. In addition, more than 120 former players have continued their baseball and academic careers at 83 different four-year institutions.
Throughout his career, Grant was heavily involved in the ABCA, NJCAA and Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. Grant served two terms as the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association President, representing over 390 member institutions to the NJCAA Board of Directors. Additionally, Grant served as the NJCAA Chair on the ABCA’s Executive Committee for six years, served on the ABCA Standing Committee for two years and served on the ABCA’s Lefty Gomez Award Committee. He also served as President of the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.
Grant’s induction into the ABCA Hall of Fame will mark his fourth Hall of Fame induction. He is currently a member of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the Arizona Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Brophy College Prep Hall of Fame.
Additionally, Grant has coached with USA Baseball in several roles including assistant coach of the Under-18 team in 1994 and head coach of the Under-18 team in 2002 which featured the likes of future major leaguers Scott Kazmir, Jeff Francoeur, and B.J. Upton. He was also the head coach of the 2010 NJCAA All-Star team that competed in an international series with Chinese Taipei.
Grant’s coaching career began in 1973 as head coach at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix, Arizona. After four years at Brophy, Grant took over as head coach at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, where he served for one year, before becoming an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Off the field, Grant served as a residential faculty member in the English Department at Glendale and was the school's Director of Athletics from 2000-14.
