Marty Gross
Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach – 3rd Season
Mount Marty University
Marty Gross enters his third season as the Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Mount Marty University, bringing nearly five decades of college basketball coaching experience to the Lancer program. Gross is in his 49th season of college coaching, including 42 years at the Division I level, where he has helped recruit, develop, and mentor 16 players who went on to play in the NBA and more than 75 professional players worldwide.
A 1973 graduate of Yankton High School, Gross returned home to Mount Marty with a wealth of basketball knowledge and a deep commitment to player development, teaching, and mentoring.
Gross’s extensive coaching career includes stops at Birmingham Southern, Jacksonville University, Rice University, Wichita State University, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Missouri State. Among his many accomplishments, he was part of the coaching staff at Wichita State that won the 2011 NIT Championship beating a Klay Thompson-led Washington State team in the semi-finals and Alabama in the finals.
Gross has also authored three basketball books: A Systematic Approach to Teaching Post Play, Transition Attack: 5 Out Transition, and Courtmaster’s Playbook: 5-Star Strategies to Score in Five Seconds or Less. His books reflect his emphasis on teaching the game through detailed fundamentals, player development, transition basketball, and offensive execution.
“Coach Gross is a basketball encyclopedia and a true hoops junkie,” said Mount Marty head men’s basketball coach Collin Authier. “He studies the game like no other and constantly focuses on the development of players both on and off the court. Our guys are blessed to have someone like him to learn from and be impacted by.”
As a player, Gross was an all-state basketball standout at Yankton High School and went on to Jacksonville University, where he was a four-year letterman and co-captain of the team. He played on the 1974 Jacksonville University team that reached the NIT and included four NBA draft selections. Gross earned a bachelor’s degree in management from Jacksonville in 1977 and a master’s degree in the Art of Teaching from the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 1979.
“I am incredibly honored and excited to be part of the coaching staff at Mount Marty University,” said Gross. “Coming home and working alongside Collin, his staff, and our players is a dream come true. Yankton has always been my home, and I look forward to contributing to the success of Lancer basketball while continuing to develop and mentor young men and make a positive impact in the community.”
Gross is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC), and Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church. He lives with his wife, Mary Pat Nelson, a native of Beaumont, Texas.
