ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis University Tuesday named Rich Grawer its head basketball coach, giving him the task of rebuilding the school's shattered program.
Grawer, who had been an assistant coach at the University of Missouri last year, received a four-year contract.
During a news conference to announce the appointment, Grawer said he decided to take the job even though the NCAA last week placed the Billikens on a year's probation.
'There were an awful lot of reasons,' Grawer said of his decision. 'I love St. Louis and I have the same type of love for the Jesuits. I want to be a head coach at a major university, and this is an opportunity.
'I want a chance to feel a real sense of accomplishment. This is a challenge, and all of us like that type of challenge. I want to succeed and I want the university to feel the program has succeeded.'
Grawer, 38, succeeds Ron Ekker, who coached the Billikens for four years before resigning last year during a 6-21 season, the most defeats in school history. The school lost 18 of its last 19 games.
Before taking the job as the top assistant to Norm Stewart at Missouri, Grawer was a highly successful coach at DeSmet High School in St. Louis. Both DeSmet and St. Louis University are operated by the Jesuits, a Catholic order.
Grawer's DeSmet teams won three large-school state championships and made five straight trips to the final four. In his 11 years at DeSmet, Grawer's teams were 269-85.
Grawer, the sixth coach in 14 years at St. Louis University, will face an immediate problem in dealing with the year's probation slapped on the school last week for conducting illegal summer practices and lying about them.
The probation bars the Billikens from post-season competition and from live television appearances next year.
Grawer's move to St. Louis University comes at the same time the school is changing conferences. The Billikens dropped out of the Metro Conference, where they had never been a contender, to join the Midwestern City Conference.
The Billikens have had eight consecutive losing seasons and never won a game in the Metro Conference tournament.
Grawer had been the leading candidate for the job since the day Ekker resigned. He met with university officials on at least two occasions and talked with several of the team's players before agreeing to take the job.
