QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE

Grant Leonard snips a piece of the net after Queens won the 2022 South Atlantic Conference basketball tournament. Leonard was appointed head coach last week following Bart Lundy’s move to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Grant Leonard first stint as a college basketball head coach is with one of the best Division II programs in the country.

Leonard, who was promoted last week to Queens’ top job, has been coaching for 18 years – half of them with the Royals – and has been associate head coach since 2016. He will be the sixth head coach in Queens men’s basketball history, following Bart Lundy, who was hired at Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“My family and I couldn’t be more honored to have the responsibility to take over this prestigious program,” Leonard said in a statement. “The foundation has been laid by the past student-athletes and coaches and they have set a championship tone; we will continue to build on that with a focus on daily work, character, integrity, toughness and development.”

In addition to Queens, Leonard has been the head coach and general manager for Team D2 in The Basketball Tournament since 2019. TBT is a single-elimination, 64-team tournament that has a grand prize of over $1 million. Leonard’s teams have advanced to the round of 32 or better each season.

“Grant has been instrumental in the development of and critical to the success of our basketball program the past nine years,” Queens athletics director Cherie Swarthout said. “He has remained loyal and committed to the process of building the Royals into a championship and nationally relevant program. His analytical approach combined with his ability to build relationships will continue to propel us forward.” 

Leonard has been integral to Queens’ success, with the Royals going 189-37 over the last seven seasons and nationally ranked in the top 25 in 111 of 112 polls dating back to November 2015. They have been in the top 10 each of those seasons, peaking at No. 1 in January 2018 in addition to earning seven straight berths in the national tournament.
The 2021-22 squad, which won 30 games for the fourth time in six years, matching their Sweet 16 appearances during that time.

Queens twice advanced to the Elite 8 (2018 and 2019) with Leonard on the sidelines in addition to three South Atlantic Conference regular season titles and two tournament wins.
Leonard, who has worked at five schools across all three NCAA divisions, came to Queens from Division II Paine College (2011-13) where he was first assistant coach, recruiting coordinator, director of skill development, and defensive specialist at the SIAC school.

In his first of two years with the Lions, Paine turned in a winning season for the first time in seven years and finished second nationally with seven blocks per game.
Leonard’s previous coaching stops include Flagler College (2009-10), Texas-Pan American (2006-09), and Washington College (2005-06).

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