Grasso Placed on Leave, Does He Have a Future at Bryant?
Saturday, September 30, 2023
On November 6, Bryant's men’s basketball team opens against Manhattan College, and in all likelihood, Coach Jared Grasso will not be on the bench.
Grasso was placed on leave by Bryant University administrators, and few details have been released.
Rumors are swirling in Smithfield and the only thing that is known is that Phil Martelli, Jr. is the acting head coach.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe joined the Bryant staff in April 2018 as an assistant coach and was promoted to Associate Head Coach in August of 2020. He begins his sixth year on the Bryant sidelines in 2022-23.
He might be better known as being the son of legendary coach of Phil Martelli of St. Joseph.
Bryant Has Played with Fire
For the past few years, Grasso has been in the spotlight for a series of controversies.
A 2022 editorial in GoLocal questioned the direction of the Bryant program and Grasso’s leadership.
The next season, Grasso and Bryant were involved in an ugly fight with Syracuse University.
Longtime Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim Ripped Grasso
The 78-year-old Boeheim aired out his frustrations at the end of his postgame press conference,.“His players didn’t come and shake hands. They ran off the court, two or three of them,” Boeheim told reporters, per team-provided video. “I don’t know why you would do that. We lost and we shook hands. That’s what you do, win or lose. That’s what you do.”
Boeheim didn’t stop there as he ripped Grasso more for his response to the incident.
“He gave me a sarcastic apology, which fits him,” Boeheim said. “It really wasn’t an apology; that’s why I didn’t really accept it. He said he apologized; it wasn’t that kind of apology.”
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