8 potential candidates to replace Earl Grant at Boston College

A new era will begin next season at Boston College, as the Eagles have announced that they are parting ways with head coach Earl Grant after five seasons at the helm. The program will conduct a national search for his successor, hoping that the next leader of the Eagles can finally turn this program back into national relevance.

Grant was unheralded college guard who caught on as a D1 assistant over two decades ago. His most prominent early work was on Gregg Marshall’s staffs at Winthrop and Wichita State, helping build the foundation for the Shockers. After a stint on Brad Brownell’s staff with Clemson, Grant’s first head coaching gig came during a 7-year stretch at Charleston during which he took those Cougars to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

Boston College brought him aboard in 2021 but he wasn’t able to replicate the same success at Chestnut Hill. Grant’s best season was year three, with 20 wins and an appearance in the second round of the NIT. However, his Eagles never finished higher than 10th place in the ACC, and were actually 17th and 16th place the last two seasons respectively. His tenure ends with a record of 72-92 over the last half-decade.

After five less than fruitful seasons, Boston College is looking in a new direction and hoping to finally find the person to fix this program. The Eagles have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2009 and haven’t found that real leader since Al Skinner left the program the following season. We’ll look closely at a few names already mentioned for the job and a few others that could be interesting fits at Boston College.

Chris Caputo

While this first inclusion may seem like a bit of a head scratcher, Caputo has been pretty solid in the early steps of his own head coaching career. He spent two decades under Jim Larranaga at George Mason and Miami before taking the helm at George Washington back in 2022. His Revolutionaries haven’t exactly dominated in a tough A-10, but his reason for inclusion is his connection to Boston College athletic director Blake James, who worked around Caputo at Miami for nearly a decade. He’s not high on the list, but someone to consider.

Joe Gallo

A New Jersey native and name on the rise in coaching circles, Gallo is in the midst of his tenth season leading Merrimack. A former guard and assistant for those Warriors, he’s done an incredible job leading Merrimack to D2 success before a successful transition to D1 just a few seasons ago. Gallo won a ton of games in the NEC and led this program to a MAAC regular season title this past season. The jump to Boston College might be too significant but he’s a hot commodity likely to land a significant job someday soon.

James Jones

We’ve certainly brought up this name for various openings over the years and Jones remains entrenched at Yale nonetheless. A Long Island native and former player at Albany, Jones took the head coaching job at Yale in 1999 and has spent 27 years making this the Ivy League’s top spot. He’s led the Bulldogs to five NCAA Tournaments, including appearances in four of the last six, alongside multiple Tourney upset wins. If Jones is every going to leave, maybe a job like Boston College can lure him out of New Haven, and he’s certainly shown he can build a program.

Jay Larranaga

We already mentioned a personal connection to the athletic director, and that’s probably why you’ll see the younger Larranaga come up for this job. What’s different here is that Larranaga has never coached college ball, serving as a G-League head coach before spending the last 14 years as an NBA assistant. After a long stint under Brad Stevens with the nearby Boston Celtics, Larranaga has been on the Los Angeles Clippers’ staff. There might be an adjustment period, but he’s familiar with the AD, familiar with the city, and could reengage the fanbase and create a winning culture.

Chris Mack

If the two sides were in agreement, Mack to Boston College could actually be a great move for both parties. A former player, assistant, and head coach at Xavier, Mack had success leading the Musketeers but fizzled out during his work at Louisville. He’s clearly familiar with the ACC and was also an assistant during Wake Forest’s brilliant years, but Mack seems pretty happy since taking the Charleston head coaching gig two seasons ago. Would this job be enough to lure him back to the ACC?

Luke Murray

At some point you have to believe that Murray is going to take one of these open head coaching jobs, but is Boston College that landing spot? He’s built a reputation as one of the sport’s best assistants, working under Dan Hurley and Chris Mack for the last 13 years. Murray has really entered the spotlight helping craft these recent national championship teams at UConn, where he’s been since 2021. While he doesn’t have any head coaching experience, he’d be a very intriguing name to help Boston College recapture some of their moxie.

Patrick Sellers

The coaching career for Sellers over the last three decades has been a really wild ride. Aside from a brief stint as a high school coach in the late 90’s, much of that experience has been on D1 coaching staffs. He was associate head coach at UConn under Jim Calhoun, and got major experience at places like Creighton and DePaul. His first collegiate head coaching job has gone really well over the last five years at Central Connecticut, though he hasn’t gotten the Blue Devils over the hump despite a pair of NEC titles. Is this too big of a jump to the ACC despite all of his years of experience?

Tony Skinn

As a player, Skinn was a big part of George Mason’s incredible run to the Final Four in 2006. After playing internationally for several seasons, he’s made nice strides in his coaching career as well. Skinn was an assistant at Seton Hall, Ohio State, and Maryland before returning to his alma mater as head coach. In his first three seasons, he’s already won 70 games with the Patriots, including a regular season title last year. Whether or not Skinn even wants to leave George Mason, you have to wonder if he’d go for a place like Boston College among other options likely to open this year.