The former GM of the Toronto Raptors Glen Grunwald and now the current McMaster University's Director of Athletics and Recreation poses on campus on Oct 29, 2014.
Glen Grunwald was one of the first senior executives hired after the birth of the Toronto Raptors two decades ago. He introduced Canada to Vince Carter – who can forget Vinsanity? – and was calling the shots as general manager when the Raptors made the NBA playoffs for the first time.
He then moved to New York, the hub of basketball, where as GM of the Knicks he was responsible for bringing soon-to-be phenom Jeremy Lin – remember Linsanity? – to the Big Apple and oversaw a Knicks payroll in the range of $80-million (U.S.). Home during that period was the tony hamlet of Chappaqua, about 60 kilometres north of Manhattan, where he might run into neighbour Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, walking his dog under the watchful eye of a U.S. Secret Service agent.
How times change. Grunwald is now the new athletic director at McMaster University in Hamilton and lives in Burlington, Ont., a long way from the power and panache he once enjoyed. His budget is $12-million (Canadian) and he has to concern himself with a student-athlete population of around 700, encompassing more than 30 teams, everything from ultimate Frisbee to the cheerleading squad.
"I can't say it [McMaster] was the place I thought I'd wind up, but you never know where life takes you sometimes," the affable 56-year-old said in a recent interview. "I've been fortunate to have been taken to a lot of good spots. And this is the latest one."
And it begs the question: Can a man who has spent 22 years of his working life as a senior NBA executive find contentment toiling in relative obscurity as a Canadian university sports administrator?
"It just seems like the right fit for me at this time in my life," Grunwald said, insisting he could see the McMaster job being "long term."
Having started the job in August, he is just beginning to make the adjustment. "Glen's going to find it very, very different from what he's been used to in the NBA," said Richard Peddie, the former chief executive officer at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., the owner of the Raptors and one of Grunwald's old bosses. "First of all, he's dealing with a very bureaucratic environment – the university itself, the alumni and student body," continued Peddie, who used to be a Canadian Interuniversity Sport board member. "There are a lot of people that get a vote. And he'll be challenged to increase the revenue through sponsorships and the likes of that. It won't be easy."
Grunwald admits he will have to extend his expertise far beyond his hoops comfort zone.
"In the NBA you're an inch wide and a mile deep," he said. "All you're concerned about are the 14 or 15 players on your team and how you're going to get them better. Here at McMaster, we have a lot of teams, a lot of student athletes. It's a different management approach that you would use in this position than you would use as an NBA general manager. Not that one's better than the other, it's just different."
McMaster is delighted to have him. "Someone with his experience and background you don't often see accepting jobs at the university level," said Sean Van Koughnett, associate vice-president of students and learning and dean of students at McMaster, who led the job search that selected Grunwald from more than 150 applicants.
Of course, Grunwald will also have to get used to a smaller pay packet. The AD's pay scale at McMaster is roughly $150,000 a year. While the salaries of NBA executives are not usually disclosed to the media, GMs reportedly average about $1.5-million (U.S.) annually at the lower end, with experienced hands like Grunwald, working in New York, likely commanding a bit more.
Home for Grunwald now is the Burlington community of Aldershot, about a 40-minute drive west of Toronto. It is a nice neighbourhood, but not one where there are likely to be many celebrity sightings. He said the neighbourhood's proximity to a local GO Transit train station was one of the key factors to relocating his family there after accepting the McMaster post.
Grunwald has certainly been around. Born in Chicago, he was an All-American high-school basketball player while sprouting to a gangly 6-foot-9 during the 1970s. His talents caught the eye of legendary Indiana University coach Bobby Knight, who persuaded the youngster to come to IU. Grunwald was "maybe the most highly rated player we've ever recruited," Knight would later proclaim.
Playing summer basketball in 1978, Grunwald suffered a devastating injury to his left knee that sidelined him for his entire freshman season at Indiana. While his reconstructed knee was never the same, he recovered enough to become captain of a Hoosiers team that featured Isiah Thomas in the backcourt and captured the 1981 NCAA championship.
But while he was drafted by the Boston Celtics, Grunwald said the lure of turning professional was never strong. "It's kind of weird, isn't it?" he said. "I never really thought I was going to play in the NBA."
Instead, he returned to school, got his MBA and law degree and was working as a corporate lawyer before he accepted a job with the Denver Nuggets in 1990 as vice-president and general counsel.
When the NBA finally awarded an expansion franchise to Toronto, Grunwald joined the club in 1994 as vice-president for legal affairs and assistant GM – brought on board by his old college teammate Thomas, then the Raptors' executive VP.
In 1997, Grunwald was elevated to the general manager's seat and oversaw some of the team's greatest successes. That included orchestrating the draft-day trade in 1998 that landed the Raptors the charismatic Carter, the gravity-defying sensation out of North Carolina who would help put the young franchise on the basketball map.
On Grunwald's watch, the Raptors made the playoffs for the first time in 2000, the first of three consecutive postseason appearances. Their only playoff success came in 2001, beating the Knicks three games to two in the opening round, including a 93-89 win in the deciding game in New York – Grunwald's fondest Raptor memory.
Things started to turn sour after that. Grunwald hired the volatile Kevin O'Neill to coach the Raptors for the 2003-04 season and the team missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Grunwald was fired at the season's end.
He worked for about two years as president and CEO at the Toronto Board of Trade before moving his family to New York in 2006 after accepting a job as vice-president of basketball operations with the Knicks. In June, 2011, after Donnie Walsh's contract was not renewed, Grunwald again sat in the GM's chair and helped guide the Knicks to the playoffs in both seasons he was in charge.
During the 2012-13 season, the Knicks enjoyed their best season in 13 years, winning 54 games and finishing first in the Atlantic division, earning Grunwald consideration for NBA executive-of-the-year honours. They dispatched the Celtics from the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals in six games.
For that, Grunwald was surprisingly canned by Knicks owner James Dolan. "I still don't really understand why I was fired," he said.
Out of work and pondering his next step, Grunwald said he was contacted in June by Sidky Myron & Associates, an executive search firm in Toronto, asking if he knew anybody who might be interested in the vacant AD's job at McMaster. Jeff Giles, the former CFL commissioner who had held the job for five years, had stepped aside citing personal reasons.
"I thought for a minute and said I'd be interested," Grunwald said.
Working in a university setting has always appealed to him, he said, noting that he had twice sought the AD's job at Indiana, his alma mater, without success.
McMaster was only too happy to be accommodating, thinking Grunwald's NBA background and business acumen would be invaluable to attracting corporate dollars into the department's revenue stream. Corporate and private donations help account for upward of 25 per cent of McMaster's $12-million (Canadian) budget this school year.
"He has immediate credibility with just about anyone within the sports and business world in Canada," Van Koughnett said. "That doesn't mean that we're going to be successful in generating revenue from everyone, but it certainly means that, I think, we can get in the door with anyone. And that's half the battle." He said he'd love to have Grunwald on board "as long as he wants to stay, and I think he's committed to having it be enough time to make an impact."
Grunwald has been a Canadian citizen since 1999, and in 2001 married Toronto journalist Heather Bird, now a criminal lawyer. Together they have one son, Will, who is 12 and now a Grade 7 student at a Hamilton private school. Grunwald also has two children from a previous marriage. Gabe, 21, is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, where he plays on the Badgers hockey team. Emma, 20, attends Barnard College in New York.
Amos Connolly, the men's basketball coach at McMaster, said he was in no way disturbed by the presence of a former NBA general manager at a recent Marauders practice.
"He immediately becomes the most well-known AD in the country and I don't think there's any harm in that," Connolly said. "And then, from a recruiting standpoint, from the perspective of my sport, I think it's going to be a great thing for future athletes of this program to be able to meet someone like Glen."
Just two months into his new posting, Grunwald was asked if the NBA was out of his blood.
"For now it is," he said. "I'm focused on this right now."