Head Coach | Paul Grove

Paul Grove enters his 23rd season at the helm of the Minnesota Morris men’s basketball program in 2024-25.

Already the winningest coach in Cougar men's basketball history, Grove logged his 250th victory at Minnesota Morris on Feb. 10, 2023 with a 100-74 victory over Martin Luther College. On Nov. 21, 2016, Grove surpassed Perry Ford for most wins in program history (183) and later in the year collected his 300th career win as a head coach.

In 2017-18, Grove coached his first All-American in senior guard Carl Douglas who was also named UMAC Player of the Year. Douglas closed out his UMN Morris career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,960 points.

Grove holds a 263-299 career mark with Minnesota Morris, which includes a 161-121 record in UMAC play. Along the way he has led the Cougars to two UMAC regular season titles (2004-05 & 2010-11) and one UMAC Tournament title (2009-10).

He came to Minnesota Morris in 2002 and in his second season he took the Cougars from 2-25 to 14-13, which included a 9-3 mark in their first season in the UMAC. The following year, in 2004-05, he led the Cougars to a 19-8 mark and 11-3 conference record while winning the UMAC regular season title.

Prior to UMN Morris, he was the head men's basketball coach at Mayville State University (N.D.) for six years. While at Mayville State, he built a 90-53 record and was named coach of the year three times.

He led his Mayville State teams to consecutive Dakota Athletic Conference championships and advanced all the way to the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Elite Eight in the 1997-98 season. He also mentored seven Academic All-Americans at Mayville State.

A native of Grey Eagle, Minnesota, he is one of four Grove brothers to pass through the doors of the Minnesota Morris Cougar Sports Center, joining current women's basketball head coach Tim Grove, their younger brother, Josh, who played basketball at UMN Morris and graduated in 2005, and Chris, who played for the Cougar football team in the early 1990s.

Grove and his wife, Sandy, reside in Morris and have three children, Noah, Anna, and Eli. Noah was a four-year member of the Cougar men’s basketball team (2015-19) and ended his career third all-time in points (1,500).