Published Apr 5, 2022
Maryland men's basketball announces the hiring of Grant Billmeier
Scott Greene  •  TerrapinSportsReport
Publisher

Maryland men's basketball officially announced the hiring of Grant Billmeier as the third and final assistant to join Kevin Willard's staff on Tuesday.

A Seton Hall graduate, Billmeier comes to Maryland from his alma mater where he has spent the past seven seasons as an assistant coach, having been promoted to associate head coach by Willard prior to the start of the 2021-2022 season. Billmeier spent one season as an assistant at Fairleigh Dickinson and four seasons in an administrative role on Willard's Seton Hall staff before that.

“I am excited that Grant will be joining us at Maryland,” said Willard in a release. “I have known and worked with Grant for many years. He has a championship background and experience in developing some of the most skilled bigmen in the country. He has strong recruiting connections in the Northeast and nationally and will help bring some of the best talent to College Park. We welcome, Grant and his family to Maryland.”

Billmeier had a hand in both the 2020 Big East Regular Season Championship and the 2016 Big East Tournament Championships, both the program’s first since 1993. Together, Willard and Billmeier have finished top-four in the Big East on six occasions and have posted 26 Quad 1 wins over the last four seasons. The 26 Q1 wins are among the Top 15 among all teams in the nation since the 2018-19 season.

“Continuing to work alongside Coach Willard is very special to me,” said Billmeier. “We have won together and built a winning culture together. Being able to do that at Maryland is something I am very excited about. I can’t wait to get started recruiting the newest Terps and helping the players develop into some of the best in the Big Ten and the country.”

Known for his work with big men, Billmeier has been instrumental in developing Seton Hall's forwards and centers into some of the best in the Big East. The Pirates finished in the top two of the conference in rebounding for three consecutive seasons from 2016-18.

Billmeier helped develop Angel Delgado into one of the top basketball players in the country and a Seton Hall legend, earning the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar National Center of the Year Award in 2018. Delgado led the nation in rebounding at 13.1 per game in 2017, was named All-America honorable mention, the Metropolitan Player of the Year and unanimous All-Big East. Then in 2018, Delgado broke the Big East career rebounds record, averaged a double-double, and posted the NCAA Tournament's first 20-20 game since 2012 (24 points, 23 rebounds vs. Kansas). Billmeier also worked to help Delgado's teammate Ismael Sanogo develop into a starter and one of the best defenders in the Big East.

In 2020, Billmeier helped mold Romaro Gill into one of the most-feared shot blockers in the Big East. After transferring in from a junior college, Gill had a promising junior season that then exploded into one of the most impactful senior years anyone's had in a Pirates uniform. Gill averaged 3.2 blocks per game to finish third in the nation, and he won the Big East's blocks championship by averaging 3.4 rejections per conference contest. To add to his impact, Gill drastically improved his offensive game and was the Big East's field goal percentage champion by making 63.5 percent of his attempts during league play. At season's end, he not only was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year, but he also was named Big East Most Improved.

Billmeier also had a hand in current NBA player Sandro Mamukelashvili's development from playing only 9.6 minutes per game as a freshman into the 2021 Big East Player of the Year as a senior. A 6-11 power forward with great shooting and passing abilities, Mamukelashvili worked hard with Billmeier to become one of the conference's top threats. In 2020-21, Mamukelashvili was one of only two players in the Big East to rank in the league's top-five in scoring and rebounding and top-15 in scoring, rebounding and assists. In addition to being named the conference player of the year, Mamukelashvili was the 2021 Haggerty Award Metropolitan Player of the Year, All-America honorable mention and a finalist for the Karl Malone National Power Forward of the Year Award.

Including his two NCAA Tournament appearances as a student-athlete in 2004 and 2006, Billmeier has represented Seton Hall in six NCAA Tournaments, tying former head coach P.J. Carlesimo and assistant coaches Bruce Hamburger and Tom Sullivan for most NCAA Tournament appearances while either playing and/or coaching at Seton Hall.

A native of Pennington, N.J. and graduate of St. Patrick High School, Billmeier cut his teeth in coaching as an assistant at St. Patrick under current Montverde Academy head coach Kevin Boyle. As a senior at St. Patrick, he helped the school win the 2003 New Jersey Tournament of Champions. After graduating from Seton Hall in 2007, Billmeier played professionally in Germany and Portugal and started his own basketball summer camp, the Billmeier and Nardi Skills Camp, alongside former St. Patrick teammate and current Villanova assistant Mike Nardi.