Grant McCasland Throwback Irving High Basketball

[All About UNT]

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Were you his neighbor growing up or something? 

[Zeleny' Orel]

7 hours ago, All About UNT said:

Some of you long time Mean Green fans might recognize Grant McCasland's coach (top right hand corner)...Robert "Snake" LeGrand who coached at UTA from 1976-1987, prior to coaching at Irving High School.  He was fun to watch and yell at during the UNT-UTA games.

[greenjoe]

Is Coach LeGrande still alive ?

It always seemed to me that Coach LeGrande spent a lot of time watching BB at the Coliseum.  I remember seeing him at a NT game once and yelling, "Don't you have a home ?"  To wit he replied, "I like it here."

I remember going to an Irving High School football game back in the 60s.  Before the game, they played a tiger roaring over the PA system.  I thought that was cool and I haven't ever heard anything like that anywhere else. 

GO MEAN GREEN

Edited March 16, 2017 by greenjoe

[MeanGreen_MBA]

I met Snake in 1982 when he spoke at my high school basketball banquet.  Watched him coach many games at UTA...What year did McCasland graduate HS?  I may have played against him...

[All About UNT]

1 hour ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

I met Snake in 1982 when he spoke at my high school basketball banquet.  Watched him coach many games at UTA...What year did McCasland graduate HS?  I may have played against him...

1994 I think

5 hours ago, Zeleny' Orel said:

Some of you long time Mean Green fans might recognize Grant McCasland's coach (top right hand corner)...Robert "Snake" LeGrand who coached at UTA from 1976-1987, prior to coaching at Irving High School.  He was fun to watch and yell at during the UNT-UTA games.

Thanks for reminding me of him. I couldn't remember his name but I remember him being really nice to me when I was a kid. My mother taught at Irving High as well and I got stuck up there during workshops quite a bit. He would always let me use the gym to play basketball while they were doing their conferences and what not

[MCMLXXX]

4 hours ago, greenjoe said:

Is Coach LeGrande still alive ?

It always seemed to me that Coach LeGrande spent a lot of time watching BB at the Coliseum.  I remember seeing him at a NT game once and yelling, "Don't you have a home ?"  To wit he replied, "I like it here." 

GO MEAN GREEN

Interesting article on LeGrande. He would make sure the doors to Texas hall were locked when he brought in recruits so he would have an excuse not to show them The Stage.

http://www.utamavs.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/080713aaa.html

[Wag Tag]

Those are some big dudes! I love overachievers! Go coach Cas!

[drex]

Ever hear the story about what happened at the Super Pit when we played UTA there when Snake was the coach?  At halftime he entered the North Texas dressing room where Tommy Newman was planning for the second half of the game.  Snake told the North Texas team that he just dropped by since his team would not listen to him at his halftime planning session.  Newman was furious, as the story goes.  Snake was a very fun coach to watch and when it was him and Bill Blakeley coaching against each other it was really fun to watch them.

 

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

1 hour ago, drex said:

Ever hear the story about what happened at the Super Pit when we played UTA there when Snake was the coach?  At halftime he entered the North Texas dressing room where Tommy Newman was planning for the second half of the game.  Snake told the North Texas team that he just dropped by since his team would not listen to him at his halftime planning session.  Newman was furious, as the story goes.  Snake was a very fun coach to watch and when it was him and Bill Blakeley coaching against each other it was really fun to watch them.

 

I'm imagining this scene, that's really funny. I bet it was one of those things that seemed like a good/funny idea at the time. 

[All About UNT]

17 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I'm imagining this scene, that's really funny. I bet it was one of those things that seemed like a good/funny idea at the time. 

sounds like he and Bill were cut from the same cloth.

[drex]

Yep, Snake and Blakeley were showmen.  They realized that they were there to entertain as well as win games.

[eulessismore]

8 hours ago, drex said:

Yep, Snake and Blakeley were showmen.  They realized that they were there to entertain as well as win games.

It was always fun to watch BB when Blakeley was coaching.

[UNTLifer]

14 hours ago, eulessismore said:

It was always fun to watch BB when Blakeley was coaching.

Always.  Never missed a game.  That was my favorite era of UNT basketball.

[GoMeanGreen25]

On 3/20/2017 at 11:34 AM, UNTLifer said:

Always.  Never missed a game.  That was my favorite era of UNT basketball.

Boy those were the days...