Men's basketball coach Rob deGrandpre (da-GRAUND-pray) arrived on the Hilbert College campus in September of 2002. 2025-26 marks his 24th season at the helm. Now the program's winningest coach with 279 career victories, deGrandpre has built the Hawks into one of the more competitive programs in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC).
deGrandpre has guided his squad to four of the last five AMCC postseason tournaments while averaging 12.8 wins per season in that span. 2024-25 saw the team return to the playoffs after a one-year break. The Hawks featured a trio of all conference honorees, Larry Morse (First Team), Shaheem Ellis (Second Team), and Quran Briggs (Third Team). The team ranked in the top 25 in Division III in three-point field goal percentage while totaling 14 wins, the program's most since 2019.
A stretch from 2018-2024 saw the men’s basketball program win a combined 60 games in five seasons around the covid eliminated 2020-21 year. Highlights from this era included the 2023-24 team being ranked nationally in offensive rebounds/game (13.44), assist/turnover ratio (1.26), rebound margin (+4.6), and rebounds/game (39.44), a third place AMCC finish (2022-23), and a 15-11 overall outing (2019-20).
The 2017-18 team produced an 18-9 record and finished tied for third in the AMCC with a 13-5 slate. For the first time since joining the league in 2004-05, deGrandpre guided the Hawks to a 69-54 victory at first place Penn State Behrend on February 14. A Hilbert roster riddled with injuries found a way to win seven consecutive games down the stretch, and the royal and white earned the program's eighth consecutive postseason appearance - advancing to the AMCC Tournament Semifinals. deGrandpre produced three all-conference selections and the league's Newcomer of the Year, while being honored as the conference's Co-Coach of the Year.
The 2015-16 men's basketball team captured the AMCC Regular Season title for the second time in four years. The Hawks posted their fourth straight 20 + win season and finished a program best 22-5 overall while setting a new record for conference wins - finishing 15-3 in league play. As the AMCC Tourney's #1 seed, the team hosted the championship weekend before succumbing 74-76 in the title game, marking the program's third straight appearance in the finals. The season also featured winning the annual Hawks Against Hunger Tip-Off Tournament, a win over 24th ranked Penn State Behrend, and piling up 100+ points seven times. deGrandpre's cagers paced the AMCC in seven overall statistical categories including field goal percentage (49.3) and points per game (86.0) – where they ranked 13th and 19th nationally.
deGrandpre orchestrated a second-straight 21-7 campaign in 2014-15 while leading Hilbert back to the AMCC Tournament Championship game for the second consecutive year. On the year, the Hawks led the AMCC in scoring (79.7 ppg), field goal percentage (47.4%), three-point field goal percentage (36.0%), total rebounds (37.8 rpg), and three-point field goal defense (29.6%). Season highlights included a program best 8-0 start, an upset of #23 ranked Penn State Behrend, 11 new season records, and a national ranking in three-point field goal defense (11th), total assists (14th), and assists per game (15th).
The Hawks finished 2013-14 with a then program best record of 21-7 record and a-first ever runner-up finish in the AMCC Tournament. Hilbert played up the home court advantage as deGrandpre's Hawks captured their own Hawks Against Hunger Tip-Off Tourney and finished a comfy 11-3 inside the confines of the Hafner Recreation Center. Just as impressive, Hilbert posted a 7-2 mark on the road in the ever-challenging AMCC. Averaging 79.6 ppg, the Hawks dominated the conference in total field goals made (793), rebounds per game (38.5), steals per game (9.9), and assists per game (16.5) – accomplishments good enough to rank statistically in the top 25 nationally.
Under deGrandpre, Hilbert (20-6 overall) captured the program's first AMCC Regular Season title in 2012-13, marking the – then most successful season in Hilbert College men's basketball history. Posting a 14-4 conference record, deGrandpre was named AMCC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year after the Hawks secured the #1 seed in the 2012-13 conference tournament. Statistically, Hilbert led the league in Assist/Turnover ratio (1.22) as well as in steals per game with 10.0, a season best. deGrandpre's persistent theme of valuing possessions led to a league leading + 5.42 turnover margin and a national ranking of 12th. The Hawks held opponents to a stingy 65.5 ppg while shaving almost 6 points of the opponents' side of the scoreboard when compared to 2011-12.
Since moving to the highly competitive AMCC, deGrandpre's teams have qualified for post-season play 14 times (2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2024-25), reaching at least the conference tournament semifinals in nine of those appearances.
After rebuilding the men's basketball program during his inaugural season, deGrandpre's Hawks improved in each of the next four years. The 2005-06 team came within an overtime basket of reaching the AMCC tournament finals before falling to nationally ranked Lake Erie College. A 14-win season followed in 2006-07 with a program-first trip to the ECAC post-season tournament where they succumbed to eventual champion Vassar College.
A tireless recruiter, deGrandpre's efforts to market the Hilbert College basketball program have paid big dividends. Sam Gioia ('05), Glen Ufland ('07), and one of deGrandpre's most decorated protégés - Dallas Reinard ('08), a two-time DIII News All-American, ESPN-The Magazine Academic All-American, and the 2006-07 AMCC Player of the Year, – are enshrined in the Hilbert College Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2018, Dan McFarland ('13) joined this prestigious group, and in 2022 Jerame Owens ('16) – the only member of the 1,000-point/rebound club took his rightful place on the wall. In 2025, Trevor Stark ('15), and Hunter Martineau ('20) became the sixth and seventh deGrandpre-coached athletes to join the College's Athletics Hall of Fame. Stark, another 1,000-point scorer is the college's all-time leader in free-throw percentage (.847) and games played (109) and suited up for three professional seasons in Israel, while Martineau still remains as the program's all-time assist leader. No other AMCC coach has produced more Newcomer of the Year recipients than deGrandpre. The honor has been bestowed upon the coach's most talented of recruits in CJ Hodge ('14), Owens ('16) - the 2016 AMCC Defensive Player of the Year and the program's all-time leader in 11 statistical categories, Martineau, and Antonio Alvarez ('21). More recently, Zach Miller ('23), the program's all-time leader in three-point FG%, was named the 2023 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
In 22 seasons, deGrandpre has generated 38 All-Conference selections and 75 Hawks have earned All-Conference Academic Honors by obtaining a 3.2 GPA or higher.
"Recruiting top notch student-athletes to Hilbert College to compete at the NCAA Division III level is the standard and a priority for the coaching staff", says deGrandpre. "We will continue to build on this foundation while developing the men's basketball program into a team that makes the campus community proud".
Before arriving at the Hamburg campus, deGrandpre served as assistant men's basketball coach at Rochester Institute of Technology under the tutelage of legendary coach Bob McVean. In deGrandpre's three years at RIT, the Tigers captured the 1999-20 Empire 8 Regular Season Championship before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The program also made the ECAC postseason appearances in 2001 and again in 2002.
Previously, he spent five years as assistant men's basketball coach at Brockport State. The Golden Eagles made trips to the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Division III Tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 round in 1997.
From 2000-2010, deGrandpre worked with some of Western New York's finest amateur players while coaching the Western Open team at the Empire State Games. His teams medaled six times while capturing gold during the summers of 2005, 2007, and 2010 at the games in Buffalo, NY.
As a student-athlete at Brockport State, deGrandpre was a point guard for the Golden Eagles helping them win the 1994 SUNYAC title, earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years.
A Plattsburgh, N.Y. native, deGrandpre holds a bachelor's degree in physical education from Brockport State where he also earned a master's degree in the area of athletic administration.
deGrandpre and the Hawks were selected as recipients of the prestigious 2014-15 Collegiate Basketball Officials (CBOA) Sean Schoenfeld Sportsmanship Award, after previously garnishing honors in 2012-13. His teams have been actively involved in Hawks Against Hunger, a fundraising effort around the Holidays for those less fortunate. A frequent speaker at summer basketball camps and clinics across Western New York, deGrandpre is a member of the Basketball Coaches Association of New York, as well as the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He also serves as the director of the very popular Hilbert College Boys Summer Basketball Camps. In the spring of 2015, deGrandpre was recognized with the Mother Colette Hilbert Staff Mission Award for exemplary service towards students and faculty.
The deGrandpre coaching tree continues to grow from within the Hilbert College basketball family. Former team captain Isaac Bushey ('13) is currently the head women's basketball coach at Corning Community College. Ryan Mee – a former assistant coach with the Hawks jumped to Division I Davidson College before becoming the head men's basketball coach at Vassar College. Former assistant coach Justin Maxwell became the head men's basketball coach at Cobleskill State in 2021. More recently, former assistants Matt Hartman ('20) and Jesse Price ('23) were on the staffs at Division II Daemen University and Division I Virginia Commonwealth University, respectively.
An associate athletic director on campus, deGrandpre resides in Hamburg with his wife Sarah and their two sons, Trey (15) and Cade (12).
