Coach Q&A: Meet SMU's Bret Grant

Since Bret Grant joined the SMU football staff in July 2018, he's had his opportunities to show that he's just like the next guy. He has great stories from his past. He's all in on the vision to make SMU football "Dallas' team." Plus, he loves his music -- and he will turn things up a notch if the right song comes on.

Holding the title of assistant director of football operations, Grant has shown that he's a likable guy who fits within the SMU barriers. And as Grant prepares for his third season on staff, he wants to make sure everyone in, around and far from Dallas understands what's happening on campus and with the football team.

In four years, Grant has gone from an operations assistant at Texas A&M to one of the most underrated players on SMU's staff, someone who does a lot behind the scenes for the program. Here is Grant's bio, courtesy of SMU Football.

The HillTopics had a chance to speak with Grant to discuss a variety of subjects.

Before we start, finish this line for me: "Slow Loud And Bangin', all in my trunk"

"Trunk full of funk, I ain't never been a punk."

"Mo City Don" is one of your favorite songs, and shout-out to rapper Z-Ro. What is it about "Mo City Don" that gets you going?

There's something about that song when it comes on. I just black out, and I don't know what happens. In 2018, we were beating Houston at home. Coach [Sonny Dykes] says his piece at the end, and we're in the locker room. "Mo City Don" comes on, and I'm singing along with it. Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of the locker room rapping every word to the team. I was born in Houston. I've still got family down there, so I can identify.

As assistant director of football operations, break down what a regular day for you can consist of.

I kind of do a little bit of everything. I help out with recruiting. I do a little bit of player personnel stuff. One of my main duties is to be the "advance" guy. During the season, I'll go ahead of the team to the home hotel and make sure things are set before the team shows up. We get them to the rooms as quick as possible. For away games, I fly out a day early -- me, Jeff Jordan [director of player personnel] and Ryan Jackson [director of performance nutrition] -- and we do kind of the same deal.

Day to day work, we're helping Anthony Crespino [chief of staff] with whatever he needs. It's kind of day-to-day ops stuff. No two days are the same; you never know what's going to pop up.

You've mentioned recruiting. Friday was an outstanding day for the program, landing three commits from the Dallas area. How important is that for SMU to recruit and keep local athletes close to home?

We're blessed to be in a city like Dallas, where it's such a fertile recruiting ground. We want the city to be proud of SMU. We want kids growing up in Dallas for SMU to be their dream school. That's been a goal of ours since we got here -- to build around Dallas as best as we could.

We know that if we keep the talent around Dallas, this will be a national program. We'll be playing like we were in the '80s. It'll be the hot ticket in Dallas, and everybody will be talking about us. There's really no reason for us to reach outside of Dallas, because it's so deep. You get a team full of Dallas kids, and it'll be trouble -- for a lot of people. You can come here, get a great education and have all the resources you possibly need, no matter what you want to do. SMU's a great place to be.

You began your career working at Texas A&M, and you had a chance to work with a few guys who turned pro. One of those guys was Myles Garrett (No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft). What was it like getting to work with players like him on a regular basis?

It was awesome. Myles is a great dude. He's a very neat guy, and he's so fun to be around. I was there full-time in 2016, and we had a lot of NFL guys on campus. It was so much fun. It was an awesome experience to be a part of all that. I see a lot of similarities in some of the players here at SMU.

James Proche reminds me of a lot of those receivers. At that time, you had Josh Reynolds, who's now with the Rams, Christian Kirk, who's now with the Arizona Cardinals, Damion Ratley, who's now with the Browns ... James reminds me of those guys at times. These guys are like superstars; they are serious. It was cool to be there where now I can compare it. I see players here and can say, "Man, he reminds me of this guy or that guy."

You can't find many people with something negative to say about Sonny Dykes. What is it about Dykes, in your opinion, that draws him to everybody?

He's just the most pure human being I've ever been around. What you see is what you get with him, 100%. You don't have to deal with the lip service, used car salesman stuff. What he says is what he means, and he's going to give you his word 100% of the time. His value of family is huge. He loves being around his family, and he wants to make sure we're with our families as much as possible. He's just one of the best guys I've ever met in this profession. He's one of a kind.

To the recruits in the Dallas area, what's your pitch to them to keep them home?

Why not us? You get to stay home. You're already in a great city in Dallas. You have your family able to come to every game, and it's right up the road. You look at our pedigree of guys who make it to the league: SMU produces talent. Not only that, you look at what the SMU alumni base has done as a whole. You get your education from SMU, people will notice. When they see your resume come across their desks, it's substantial. It matters.

Our Life After Ball program, I think it's second to none. We do as much as we can to give guys opportunities to be around the right people. If they want to follow a career path, we get them in front of those people -- CEOs, influential people around the community. Dallas, probably more so than a lot of cities, loves a winner, and we can build a winner at SMU. We feel the city can rally behind us, and it's going to be a big deal. We want them all to be a part of it. We want this to be a home-grown effort, and I think we can build something really, really special here.

TRACKING THE HILLTOPICS' COACH Q&A SERIES

Feb. 16: Co-offensive coordinator/OLs coach AJ Ricker

Feb. 23: Co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach Garrett Riley

March 1: Defensive coordinator/LBs coach Kevin Kane

March 8: DLs coach Randall Joyner

March 15: TEs coach Josh Martin

March 22: WRs coach David Gru

March 29: Safeties coach Trey Haverty

April 5: RBs coach Ra'Shaad Samples

April 12: CBs Kevin Curtis

April 19: Director of recruiting relations and community engagement Scott Nady

April 26: Assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Chris Brasfield

Today: Assistant director of football operations Bret Grant