Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

Tyrone Grady joined the Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball coaching staff in the Spring of 2024 as an assistant coach and was promoted to Associate Head Coach following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.

During the 2025-26 season the Bears went 26-9 (17-5 SAC) record and advanced to their second consecutive NCAA Regional Championship game. They finished second in the South Atlantic Conference regular season and defeated North Georgia and Young Harris in the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds before falling to Lander in the regional championship. This team set single-season program records for points, rebounding margin, and free throws made. They ranked top ten in Division II in free throws mad per game (20.1), three point percentage (39.8), effective field goal percentage (57.4), field goal percentage (50.2), and scoring offense (89.5). 

The 2024-25 Bears finished with a 29-6 record and won the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Tournament Championship, the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship, and advanced the the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana. It marked the first time in men's basketball history LR won an NCAA Division II Regional Championship. Three Bears were named to the All-SAC team while Conrad Luczynski was the Southeast Regional Tournament MVP and Ziare Wells was an All-Region Second Team honoree. This team set program records for single season wins (29) and field goals made (1,114).

He came to LR by way of Eastern New Mexico University, where he served as an assistant coach for one season under current Lenoir-Rhyne Head Coach Brent Owen. In Grady’s first and only season of coaching at ENMU, Grady helped the Greyhounds finish with a 22-9 record, the most successful season in more than three decades. Grady also help lead the program to a Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship for the first time in 31 years and the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years.

Grady is no stranger to South Atlantic Conference as he spent a season at Coker University. While with the Cobras, he coached two conference honorees (Jordan Jones – second team; Mahmoud Bangura – all-freshman) and helped the team improve its season win total by seven games. 

Prior to Coker, he was at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas as the associate head coach. His duties included him serving as interim head coach for the 2021 season. During his time on staff, SCCC won four NJCAA Region VI and KJCCC West Conference championships in a row. Grady helped coach ten academic All-Americans, a top-five NJCAA academic team and two Phi Theta Kappa members. The minimum GPA standard for Phi Theta Kappa honorees is 3.5. 

Grady also holds extensive experience at the high school level where he coached varsity boys' basketball (2015-18) and girls' basketball (2012-15) at Wichita West High School in Wichita, Kansas. Grady also spent time with the Next Level Hoops Academy AAU on the Under Armour circuit.

He founded Right Fit Hoops out of Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H. after coaching at McCool Junction High School in Nebraska following a brief professional playing career.  

Grady played collegiate basketball at York University in York, Nebraska from 1997-01, where he was a three-time all-conference selection, a two-time all-region selection, and an All-American. During his time with the Panthers, he became the program leader in three statistical categories scoring 1,531 points, dishing out 715 assists, and snagging 189 steals. In 2015, York added him to the athletic department’s Hall of Fame.  

Grady comes to Hickory with wife Shawnta and son Shaun-Carson. He finished a bachelor’s in education from York University in 2002.