Bryant University men’s basketball head coach Jared Grasso could see with his own eyes the change he ignited in his first season. “My first game, there were 15 people in the crowd — three were my family, and three were the assistant coach’s family. I remember standing there during the national anthem, half embarrassed,” the 42-year-old says of the 2018-19 season at the Rhode Island school. “By the end of the season, we had sellout crowds. Students were waiting 5 or 6 hours for tickets and scalping tickets.”

Credited with turning around Bryant’s program in the last four years, Grasso was named the 2022 Jim Phelan Northeast Conference Coach of the Year. The team is 62-54 under Grasso and advanced to its first NCAA Division I Tournament this past season. A native of Syosset, New York, Grasso played basketball at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, which inducted him into its hall of fame in 2014.