Grant Billmeier played for Seton Hall from 2003-2007.
Grant Billmeier with Seton Hall University senior Fuquan Edwin before a recent game. (Photo courtesy of Seton Hall University Athletics.)
Pennington native Grant Billmeier works his way from Seton Hall basketball player to director of basketball operations
By Ken Weingartner
Even as a kid, Grant Billmeier was a student of the game of basketball.
Growing up in Pennington, Billmeier spent a good deal of time shooting hoops with his older brother Brad and other neighborhood kids, whether in the driveway or at the nearby YMCA. And although he was blessed with a body that grew to 6-foot-10 and helped him play collegiately at Seton Hall University and two years professionally overseas, he never relied solely on his size when it came to finding success in the sport.
Billmeier loved the game, inside and out. He still does. So it is no surprise to see him continuing his basketball life as the director of basketball operations at Seton Hall.
“I remember being younger and being in school, and drawing up plays that I thought could work,” Billmeier said. “I think I always looked at basketball a little bit differently than most kids.”
He didn’t just watch it to watch it; he watched it to study it, to see players’ tendencies on the court, see how good teams beat other good teams.
“I’ve always wanted to be involved in basketball one way or another. I wanted to play for as long as I could, but after being in Europe for two years, I decided that coaching would be my best route for long-term success. I love being on the sidelines and getting the chance to work with the guys.”
Billmeier, whose college playing career ran from 2003–07, is in his fourth season on the staff of Kevin Willard, Seton Hall’s head coach. For the first three years, he was coordinator of basketball operations, before he was promoted to director this year.
His primary duties include serving as the team liaison for community service and Pirate Blue events, assisting in developing practice plans, gameday coordination, and aiding players with their academic schedules and responsibilities.
“I love being at Seton Hall,” Grant said. “I committed to the school when I was 17, and it feels like home to me. It always has, and always will. There’s really nothing better.”
Billmeier was a fan favorite during his Seton Hall career, which saw him score more than 300 points and grab more than 300 rebounds despite having his senior season cut short by a knee injury. He was a two-year captain, helped the Pirates to two NCAA Tournament appearances, and received the Robin Cunningham Award for having the team’s best academic performance.
His background in the program and two years as a captain are beneficial in his new role today.
“I think the players all kind of look up to you because I was in their shoes not too long ago,” he said. “I had success here, I did well in school. They’re hearing from someone who worked extremely hard during his time here. I always kind of pride myself on being one of the hardest workers.”
He said his parents, Robert and Lisa, were great role models, as was his older brother. He said he learned a lot from them about the value of hard work. When he became team captain, it was his turn to act as role model.
“Being a captain taught me how to deal with different personalities,” he added. “I always treated everybody the same, but you had to learn how to push each person’s buttons because everybody responds in a different way. But you wanted to make sure everyone reached their best.”
Billmeier’s work ethic was well known and widely respected during his playing days.
“Grant always plays hard,” then-Seton Hall assistant coach Billy Garrett said in a 2006 feature on Billmeier that appeared on the YES Network’s Seton Hall Basketball Show. “No matter what he’s doing, he always works hard. He’s a guy you want on your team just to be a role model for the rest of the guys. You know you’re going to get 110 percent from Grant.”
Added then-head coach Louis Orr, “I always give Grant his due as a leader, as a worker, but he’s a very good basketball player. He’s invaluable whether he’s coming off the bench or starting. He’s a guy that really does things that don’t come up in the stats, but he also comes up big in the crucial plays, whether it’s big free throws, or a big basket or a big rebound or big block. He just brings a lot of positive energy.”
Billmeier majored in communications (with a minor in psychology) while at Seton Hall. But his communication skills on the basketball court were evident even as a youngster in Pennington.
“Grant has a love for the game and a passion for the game, so I think coaching fits right into his basketball DNA,” Brad Billmeier said. “He’s always been a big communicator on the court as a player, so I thought that would translate well into a coaching career. He would always be the type to play with older kids growing up, always challenging people to play, and I think that’s translated into an overall passion for the game.”
Brad played basketball at Hopewell Valley High School, where he scored 1,187 points, and he went on to play at Gettysburg College. He works in the financial field, but remains active as a coach for the Bulldogs’ fall league squad and assisting at Hopewell Basketball Association clinics.
He also runs a summer camp in Pennington with longtime family friend Mike Nardi, a former Villanova star who is playing professionally in Italy. Grant Billmemer and Nardi, who were teammates at St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth, started the camp in 2008, but Billmeier is prohibited from working at it now because of his job at Seton Hall.
Brad and Grant are separated in age by four years, so they didn’t have many opportunities to play together in organized games. But they still enjoyed plenty of time together on the court.
“We had a good neighborhood,” Brad said. “We had two other families that were big into playing basketball, the Jacksons and the Prewitts, so we had an opportunity to play a lot growing up. The Jacksons had two boys and a girl that all played high school basketball, and the Prewitts had a boy and a girl that played high school basketball, all at Hopewell.
Brad says it was in those neighborhood pickup games, playing against good competition, that his brother developed his passion for the game. “I hope it was good competition,” he added with a laugh.
Grant Billmeier was 6-foot-7 by the time he entered the seventh grade. He attended Toll Gate Grammar School and Timberlane Middle School before going one year to The Pennington School and then the basketball powerhouse at St. Patrick.
If Billmeier’s goal was to play Big East basketball, Brad said, it made sense to attend one of the top schools in North Jersey. With his parents’ permission, he started taking the train to Elizabeth to go to St. Patrick’s.
Later, Nardi and his mother reached out to him and let him start living with them to shorten the commute.
“[Billmeier] had the dedication and a will to succeed. Obviously, he had the great height, but he also understood the work ethic that he needed to compete at the Big East level. It blossomed when he went to St. Patrick, and working out with Mike in a top-level environment,” Brad said.
Brad saw the improvement first hand on the basketball court.
“Having an older brother to play one-on-one against was great because it gave him a benchmark to try to reach,” Brad said. “It gave him more motivation to try to get better every day.”
Even though the younger brother was the taller one, the older brother’s experience gave him an advantage when they played head to head. But after spending time with the coaches at St. Patrick’s, Billmeier was able to take his game to another level.
“That was probably really satisfying to him because it had probably always been the carrot dangling ahead of him just out of reach,” Brad said.
Billmeier played a variety of sports early on in Pennington, but his size made basketball a clear-cut choice, he said.
“I had a great experience growing up and playing travel soccer, travel baseball and travel basketball and being part of the youth teams there,” Billmeier said. “I really couldn’t say there’s one specific memory that stands out, because I had so many great memories there growing up.”
He said he loves being from Pennington and tries to go back as often as he can to see his family.
“It’s a great town, a great place to raise kids, a great school system, great people,” he said.
Also satisfying for Billmeier was the chance to play basketball professionally. Billmeier spent one season in Wurzburg, Germany — home of NBA star Dirk Nowitzki — and one season in Portugal.
Making it all the more gratifying was the fact Billmeier underwent seven months of rehab after knee surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered his senior year at Seton Hall.
“That was very difficult, because I’d never had a serious injury prior to that,” he said. “To have it my senior year, it was a rough time. I put in a ton of time rehabbing and making sure I was able to play good. I was able to get back to 100 percent and able to continue my career for two more years overseas.
“It showed me how much I love the game and that I could never just walk away from it. It was a tough journey, but a journey I wouldn’t trade.”
Billmeier averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds per game for Wurzburg, and a year later played in Portugal.
“It was two different places in terms of culture and lifestyle, but it was awesome,” he said. “I enjoyed every minute of it. Wurzburg was a basketball-crazed city and an unbelievable opportunity. In both places, I was recognized all throughout town. It was a really cool experience and something I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
He always knew the NBA would have been a long shot for him, but he’s glad he was able to play a few years after college before hanging up his high tops.
“I was very fortunate to get paid to play basketball, which is something I love doing,” he said.
After he hung it up as a player, he picked it up as a coach. He is looking forward to this season at Seton Hall.
“We look pretty good,” Billmeier said. “Last year we had a lot of injuries and were down to six scholarship players for most of the year. Now we have 13 healthy bodies and I think we have a chance to have a pretty good year if we can stay healthy and our seniors continue to do a good job of leading the young guys.”
As for his own future, Billmeier is focused on maintaining a role in the sport.
“I want to stay in this business, and keep moving up the ranks,” Grant said. “I want to continue to work hard.”
And continue to be a student of the game.
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