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Maryknoll announced the hiring of Kelly Grant as varsity boys basketball coach yesterday.
The school interviewed candidates on Tuesday. Grant was boys basketball coach at Kaimuki, where he guided the Bulldogs to a state championship in 2007.
In addition, Ben Valle was named co-athletic director. Valle, who was the dean of students, played with Grant on the 1984 Maryknoll team under coach Tony Sellitto. It was the Spartans’ only state championship.
After teaching at Kaimuki, he became a physical education teacher at Maryknoll recently. One of his sons also attends Maryknoll.
Grant has already set the wheels in motion.
"I’ve had two meetings already with our varsity and our freshmen," he said. "I’m going to meet with our sophomores and juniors next."
Though summer is months away, Grant has a game plan.
"I’m going to sit down with Ben and our coaches. We’re going to be really organized. Summer is going to be intense, a lot of learning," he said.
Though it’s been 27 years since that state title team, one of Sellitto’s mantras still rings true.
"The game is much more complicated now," Grant said of the era before 3-pointers. "But he always said you need to be good at two or three things rather than be a jack of all trades. Shooting is of the utmost importance. We can’t be missing wide open shots."
