Varsity Basketball Coach Joe McGrane Inducted into CHSAA Hall of Fame 

Joe McGrane, Xavier's head varsity basketball coach and a longtime faculty member, can now add one more laurel to his accomplishments on and off the court: CHSAA Hall of Fame inductee. On Thursday, May 14, Coach McGrane was inducted into the Catholic High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame at the Brynwood Golf & Country Club in Armonk, NY, where he was accompanied by Xavier faculty, family, and friends.

Coach McGrane has coached varsity basketball at Xavier for 27 years, with 24 of them as head coach. He has led Xavier to two city championships in 2000 and 2014, in addition to several division and archdiocesan championships. He has also been named the CHSAA Coach of the Year three times, first in 2007 and then consecutively in 2014 and 2015, and has over 300 wins as a head coach. Despite these many accolades, Coach McGrane evaluates his coaching career not in terms of championships and win-loss records, but by player development. Coach McGrane attests, “I’ve never evaluated our successes based on our win-loss records, but rather how much our players have grown over the course of a season.”

Coach McGrane has always tried to approach coaching from a holistic perspective. Noting the similarities between academics and athletics and how they apply to a Xavier education, Coach McGrane said, “I’ve tried to approach coaching from a teacher’s perspective. I always saw the court as an extension of the classroom. All of the hard work and sacrifices that my players make each and every day, in addition to the lessons they learn at practices and games, they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. ”

The lessons that Coach McGrane applies to coaching have left an indelible mark on his players, fellow coaches, and peers. Varsity basketball team manager Matthew Bergstol ’15 described Coach McGrane as “a great mentor and role model to all of his players.” Xavier President Jack Raslowsky concurred with this assessment, saying, “In an age when many people choose to take shortcuts, Coach McGrane works hard, prepares well, and is an example for all in athletics and life. I look forward to many more years of Joe coaching at Xavier.”