Grant Jr. will coach at Johns Hopkins
Former Laker named new offensive co-ordinator for Blue Jays lacrosse team
Peterborough native John Grant Jr. was named Monday as the new offensive co-ordinator for the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays in Baltimore.
The former longtime Peterborough Century 21 Lakers player has spent the past two seasons as assistant coach of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
“I am honoured to have the opportunity to become a part of the historic Johns Hopkins lacrosse program,” Grant said. Grant won five Mann Cup championships with the Lakers along with one National Lacrosse League title and six Major League Lacrosse championships.
He also helped Canada to the 2006 FIL World Outdoor Championship and the ’03, ’07 and ’11 FIL World Indoor titles.
“While John’s playing resumé speaks for itself, he has also been a highly successful coach at the professional, college, high school and club levels,” Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Peter Milliman said.
“He has demonstrated the rare ability to transition from being one of the world’s greatest players into being one of the great teachers of the game. He has a natural coaching style that our players will very much enjoy and I look forward to seeing the development of our offence under his guidance.”
Grant will join Jamison Koesterer, who was named last week as the team’s defensive co-ordinator.
“I would like to thank director of athletics Jen Baker, coach Milliman and the administration for having confidence in my abilities,” Grant said.
“I am very excited to start working with Pete and Jamison and to get to know the team. I cannot wait to step onto legendary Homewood Field and get to work.”
In two seasons at Air Force, Grant helped the Falcons to a 14-8 record, including a 10-5 mark in 2019. Air Force won the ’19 Southern Conference regular-season title and the Falcons opened the ’20 season with a 14-13 win at fifth-ranked Duke.
Grant coached at Air Force while simultaneously coaching the MLL’s Denver Outlaws. He served as the Outlaws’ offensive co-ordinator from 2017 to ’19 and spent the ’19 season as a player-coach as he came out of retirement to play for Denver. The Outlaws won the ’18 MLL title with Grant directing the offence and advanced to the championship game in ’19.
Prior to his stints with the Outlaws and Falcons, Grant was the head coach at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Col. There, he guided the Eagles to three consecutive appearances in the Colorado 4A State Championship game and the team claimed back-to-back-titles in 2016 and ’17; those were the first two state titles in program history.
Grant began his coaching career in 2000 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, the University of Delaware. From ’03 to ’09, he was the head instructor of Pro Skills Lacrosse before becoming the director of coaching and player development of Evolve Elite Lacrosse. Grant was the co-founder of both Pro Skills Lacrosse and Evolve Elite Lacrosse.
He is the only player in lacrosse history to win MVP honours in the MLL and NLL in the same year.
He also helped guide Canada to the 2014 FIL World Outdoor Championship as an assistant coach.
He helped guide the University of Delaware to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1999, when he earned the Turnbull Award as the nation’s top attackman and the Enners Award as the nation’s most outstanding player. The first USILA First Team AllAmerican in Delaware history, he had 96 goals and 81 assists in two seasons with the Blue Hens and set a UD record that still stands today with 110 points as a senior.
In 17 NLL seasons, he rang up 668 goals and 778 assists for 1,446 points in the regular season and added 60 goals and 51 assists in 20 playoff games. He guided the Rochester Knighthawks to the 2007 NLL title en route to earning league MVP honours and concluded his career ranked fifth in league history in goals and 12th in points; he also ranked third in assists per game.
He joined the MLL in its inaugural season in 2001, later playing from ’05 to ’16 and returned as the Outlaws player-coach in ’19. He ranks as the league’s career leader in combined regular-season and post-season goals (388) and points (634).