Queens University of Charlotte Athletics

Grant Leonard was promoted to head men’s basketball in the spring of 2022 following six years as the associate head coach. Leonard, who has been coaching for 20 years, joined the Royals in 2013 as an assistant coach before transitioning to the associate head coach role in 2016. Leonard is the sixth head coach in Queens men’s basketball history. 

2024-2025 

• Named Skip Prosser Man of the Year Finalist, an award given annually by CollegeInsider.com to a Division 1 coach who wins with integrity on and off the court.
• Led Queens to their first 20-win season in Division 1 program history, and their 19th in school history.
• Guided Queens to their first postseason invite in Division 1 history in the 2024 Purple College Basketball Invitational. At the CBI, Leonard led the Royals to victory over Northern Arizona to reach the quarterfinals.
• Reached the Atlantic Sun Tournament for the third straight year and took down Florida Gulf Coast in the opening round to make their first appearance in the semifinals.
• Developed the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Finalist, Malcolm Wilson. The 7-0 center led the nation in blocked shots and swatted the second-most shots in school history.
• Sharpshooter Chris Ashby led the ASUN and ranked top 10 in the nation in three-pointers made. Ashby broke the single-season school record with 115 made threes. The Houston, Texas native was named Third Team All-ASUN.
• Grad transfer Leo Colimerio earned Second Team All-ASUN honors after leading the Royals with 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. Colimerio was named the Lute Olson National Player of the Week and Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after turning in a career-high 35 points in the victory over Florida Gulf Coast.
• The Queens bench ranked top 10 in the nation in scoring for the majority of the season.
• The program earned the Royals Service Award for the months of August and September, a department award given monthly to the program that goes above and beyond to help improve the Queens and Charlotte community.
• Recruited and developed 33 players that have played professional basketball in the past 11seasons. During that span, the Royals have had three NABC All-Americans, 10 All-Region standouts, and 22 All-Conference performers. 

2023-2024

• Reached the Atlantic Sun Tournament Quarterfinals for the second straight season after defeating Florida Gulf Coast in the opening round.
• Saw AJ McKee and BJ McLaurin reach the 1,000-career point milestone.
• Spearheaded an offense that set a program record of 22 three-pointers and a single-game scoring record of 134 points against Carolina Christian.
• Welcomed a season-high 1,534 fans into Curry Arena against Appalachian State.
• Led an offense that was ranked top five in the nation in tempo, according to KenPom.
• Saw three Royals, including BJ McLaurin, Deyton Albury, and Jacobi Sebock notch a double-double against North Alabama. The feature was the second time in Division 1 that three Royals posted double-doubles in the same game.
• Saw AJ McKee become the seventh player in program history to reach 1,500 career points as a Royal.
• Point guard Deyton Albury received ASUN Newcomer of the Week honors twice before earning ASUN Newcomer of the Year and Third Team All-Conference honors.
• Charlotte native AJ McKee received ASUN Player of the Week honors once and was named Second Team All-Conference.
• Rookie Bryce Cash was one of two freshmen in the league to be a unanimous All-Freshman Team recipient.
• BJ McLaurin received ASUN All-Academic Team honors.
• Queens picked up the 700th win in program history against Kennesaw State on March 1st.

2022-2023

• Record the first Division 1 victory against Marshall in the first D1 game.
• Won the Rose Hall Division Championship at the 2022 Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic.  
• Erased a 16-point deficit to defeat Austin Peay for the first ASUN victory. 
• AJ McKee landed the program’s first ASUN Player of the Week honors on January 30th. 
• Coached Kenny Dye to become the Royals all-time leader in scoring (1,897), assists (675), games played (156), and games started (148). 
• Clinched the No. 9 seed in their first ASUN Tournament appearance. Defeated Florida Gulf Coast University in the opening round. 
• Saw Kenny Dye and AJ McKee receive ASUN Second and Third Team All-Conference honors, respectively.  
• Saw Kenny Dye be named to NABC First Team All-District. 
• Reached the 15-win mark for the ninth consecutive season. 
• Coached the second highest-scoring offense in the league at 77.7 points per game and the second-best rebounding team with 37.3 boards per game. 

Other Queens Accomplishments

• Helped the Royals receive top-25 national rankings in 111 of 112 Division 2 polls (NABC or D2SIDA) dating back to November 2015. Earned a top 10 ranking in each of the last seven seasons in Division 2, and a No. 1 ranking in January of 2018.
• Recorded a winning streak of eight or more games in each season while on staff at Queens in Division II. 
• Made seven consecutive Division 2 NCAA Championship appearances while on staff at Queens. Reached the Sweet 16 in 2021-2022 season for the fourth time in the past six and recorded its fourth 30-plus win season in such time. 
• Won the 2018 and 2019 Southeast Regional Championships while on staff to advance to the Elite 8 in back-to-back seasons, advancing to the national semifinals in 2018.  
• Helped the Royals secure three regular season titles and two conference tournament titles after finishing in the top two for eight consecutive seasons in South Atlantic Conference play. 

Coaching Experience

• Team D2 of The Basketball Tournament (TBT) - Head Coach and General Manager
  • Made it to the Round of 32 or better in all three seasons
• Paine College - First Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator, Director of Skill Development, and Defensive Specialist (2011-13)
  • Achieved first winning season in seven years
  • Finished second nationally in Division 2 with 7.0 blocks per game
  • Worked as an academic advisor for student-athletes and an adjunct professor
• Flagler College (2009-10)
  • Accumulated more Peach Belt Conference victories than at any other point during the program's tenure in the league at the time
• University of Texas-Pan American (2006-09)
  • Increased the program's total wins per season during each of Leonard's three years with the team
• Washington College (2005-06)
  • Helped head coach Rob Nugent record a career-high 14 wins and his first-ever conference tournament victory

Personal 
Leonard graduated Cum Laude from William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 2004, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He was a two-time Daktronics Academic All-Region Player as well as a two-time Midwest Classic Academic All-Conference Player with the Statesmen. He also holds a master’s degree in psychology from Washington College. 
  
Leonard and his wife Haley, a Charlotte native and math teacher in the CMS school district, both reside in Belmont.

Last updated 5/23/2025