Grant McCasland was hired to turn the men’s basketball program around after two years of mediocrity. That job will now fall to former Wildcat player and former assistant coach Joe Golding.

In July, McCasland left his new coaching position with the Wildcats and headed southeast to Waco to be an assistant coach at his alma mater, Baylor University.

“When you have been in athletics for as long as I have, there is never really a great opportunity or the timing never seems to fall like you would like it to for a move like this,” director of athletics Jared Mosley said. “I was really looking forward to what Grant was bringing to the table.”

According to Mosley, McCasland approached him about the potential move in advance when the opportunity to take the job at Baylor came up.

“While I didn’t necessarily like it, it made a lot of sense for him,” Mosley said. It is one of those opportunities that you can’t pass up: the ability to go to your alma mater. You can’t fault a guy for that.”

McCasland came to ACU four months ago with high expectations after leading Midwestern State to back-to-back Elite Eight NCAA Tournament appearances. He leaves without coaching a game for the Wildcats.

Golding, who was a candidate for the head coaching position initially was immediately hired to fill the vacancy left by McCasland.

“I am extremely excited that we were able to get Golding to come in,” Mosley said. “I know he is going to step up and take over the great recruiting job that Grant did, and hopefully he can turn this program around.”

As a previous Wildcat assistant, Golding was a part of Jason Copeland’s staff that led the Wildcats to a 20 win season in 2007, the last time the team had a winning record. After that season Golding was hired to be a part of the staff at Division I school, University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Golding and his team won the Sun Belt Conference title and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament during his tenure.

“Even before we had the job open up, me and Joe talked about his desire to one day be back at ACU and to be a head coach, and that made working with him even more of a joy” Mosley said. “He was in the process when we decided to go with Grant. He is just what the program needs, and will provide a ray of light to all he comes into contact with. We are beyond grateful for his desire to be here.”

As a player with the Wildcats from 1994-98, Golding played in all 108 games during his collegiate career, and as a senior, won the Teague Point Guard Award for his performance on the court. He shot 46% from the field throughout his ACU career and has made an impact in more ways than one already.

Helping Golding will be assistant coach, Brian Burton. Burton was originally a graduate assistant for McCasland’s staff after being hired away from the University of Utah where he was in charge of video scouting for the Utes.

McCasland’s assistant coach Rob McIlhaney, whom he hired to go with him from Midwestern State to ACU, will go back to Wichita Falls to coach the Mustangs. Stepping into Burton’s role of graduate assistant will be Jared Monroesenberg.