San Diego fires former GU assistant Bill Grier

Bill Grier coached San Diego to an upset of UConn in the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, his first season as Toreros coach. It never got better than that for the former Gonzaga assistant, who was fired Monday after going 117-144 in eight seasons. “Although we improved a little recently, we didn’t get to the place we wanted to,” athletic director Ky Snyder said. The A.D. said he needed to “see some steady progress and I didn’t see it build to where I wanted to.” The Toreros were 15-16 this season. “I’m more disappointed than anyone that we didn’t win more games, but I know we did things the right way,” Grier said in a statement. Grier had been an assistant at Gonzaga for 16 years before replacing the fired Brad Holland in March 2007. – AP