'This is home for me.' Grant Billmeier takes NJIT basketball reins

NEWARK – In his first press conference as a Division I men’s basketball head coach, Grant Billmeier got right to the point.

“This is home for me,” he said.

Indeed, Billmeier’s introduction as NJIT’s skipper Thursday was a homecoming. After one year on Kevin Willard’s staff at Maryland, the New Jersey lifer was greeted by a huge contingent from his alma mater Seton Hall and drew heavily on his Garden State roots in outlining vision for the program, citing the recent NCAA Tournament successes of fellow Jersey mid-majors Saint Peter’s, Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson as inspiration.

“What those programs have done, why can’t we do it here?” Billmeier told reporters. “Look at these facilities. This athletic department is committed to building a winning program.”

Impressed with the facilities

The 3,500-seat Wellness and Events Center is state of the art, and Billmeier said everything about the place convinced him accept the job offer from athletics director Lenny Kaplan (he signed a five-year contract that starts at $340,000).

“I knew the arena was going to be impressive, but I didn’t know how nice the rest of the facility is – the locker room, the weight room, the training room,” Billmeier said. “Coming into the interview I was 50/50 whether I would accept the job. We had just bought this house, the kids were registered for summer camp—we were ready to call Maryland home.”

His true home won out. Billmeier grew up in Pennington, helped St. Pat’s win an NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title, and then played a key role on Seton Hall NCAA Tournament squads in 2004 and 2006. He eventually returned to the Pirates as a staffer and, with a one-year pitstop at FDU mixed in, worked his way up to become the Hall’s associate head coach under Willard.

Billmeier said he stalked Willard to get that first job on his staff. Willard had to ask right-hand assistant Shaheen Holloway about this stranger walking into his office uninvited.

“Sha reassured him I was a good guy and could help Seton Hall win,” Billmeier said.

Pirates in attendance

Holloway, now the head man at the Hall, was at the press conference. So was current Hall assistant Ryan Whalen and former Pirate players John Morton, John Allen and Kevin Grier. Billmeier said he declined Holloway’s offer to schedule NJIT this coming season but hoped to take him up on it in 2024-25.

“So happy for Grant and proud of him,” Holloway said. “He’s ready. I know he’s going to do a great job. He’s worked his butt off for this.”

Billmeier is the fifth former Hall player to become a current Division I basketball head coach, joining Holloway, Dan Hurley (UConn), Donald Copeland (Wagner) and Levell Sanders (Binghamton). Only Duke has more alums in the top chairs. He’s also the fifth Willard assistant to get hired as a head coach and credited his former boss with giving him a wide range of responsibilities that prepared him for this moment.

“He helped me grow every step of the way,” Billmeier said.

That’s something Billmeier pays forward to his charges. Through Grier, he helped connect former Pirates Mike Nzei and Ike Obiagu to high-powered jobs in finance. It’s no coincidence Seton Hall forward Tyrese Samuel, who is transferring to Florida for his postgraduate season, attended the press conference. As a 6-foot-11 former center, Billmeier’s specialty is developing big men – as players and as people.

“I came to Seton Hall as a little boy and Grant helped me a lot,” Samuel said. “His work ethic, his intensity, his love of the game is something that is unmatched. G-Money is someone you can really talk to. I don’t think anyone deserves this more than him.”

Samuel recalled Billmeier regularly texting him early in the morning to meet at the gym for individual instruction, or to get shots up.

“He would put this music on, and you’re having fun and you appreciate that,” Samuel said. “That’s why I came out here to support him. He made me a better basketball player and also a better man. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with NJIT. I’ll be supporting them.”

Still dunking

The work already has begun. Billmeier said his program “will look like every other successful team in the state of New Jersey – gritty, tough, disciplined, unselfish.”

He said NJIT’s players have embraced his style in early workouts.

“I’ve set some boundaries about being on time and having a great attitude,” he said.

Have then seen him dunk yet?

“They have,” he said. “Kjell (6-foot-10 postgrad Kjell de Graaf) sometimes can be a little casual, so I showed him what not being casual around the rim looks like,” the 38-year-old Billmeier said. “He was a little caught off guard. I think I probably have only two more years of dunking in me, so I’m trying to get those in now, early in the job, and let those players pass the stories down for generations.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Grant Billmeier takes over as NJIT basketball coach