Cortland men’s basketball star Austin Grunder set to graduate in May and begin coaching career.
Hailing from Trumansburg, New York, Austin Grunder has solidified himself as the best basketball player to ever put on a Cortland uniform. There is no debate. One of the best division 3 basketball players in the nation over the past four years, Austin has done things Cortland has not seen for a while.
I’m talking about school records that have stood for twenty years crushed in only three seasons. Unthinkable numbers. How did a kid from little Charles O. Dickerson high school come to Cortland and just completely tear it up?
“He was a three-sport athlete in middle school playing football, basketball, and baseball. It was during football season in 7th or 8th grade when he injured his knee (twice),” Austin’s mom tells me. “He knew then that he couldn’t continue playing every sport. He needed to stay healthy for basketball so he also stopped playing baseball.”
While in hindsight, with how good Austin has been, the decision to specialize in one sport has paid off tenfold although that is no easy decision. A lot of regret looms with choosing not to play sports you have grown up playing with your best friends. But that goes to show how sure Austin was that basketball was his passion.
Growing up, sports were always a part of Austin’s life growing up. “During that time he was also into PlayStation like everyone else was. We bought him sports games though, not the shoot ‘em up games. I think he really learned a lot from those sports games.”
You may laugh at first, but you really can learn a lot from video games. Video games offer an opportunity for trial and error, after playing a few times you learn what works and what does not. Heck — former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway learned how to box from the UFC video game. He had Joe Rogan in disbelief when Holloway told him on his podcast back in 2019.
“Renan Barao was a killer in the first UFC game and I remember there’s a couple combos I would do, and I was like bro, I got three or four knockouts in a row with the same combo. At the time I did not have a striking coach so that is what we would do.”
“People would say, ‘You’re just playing games!’ and I would be, like, ‘No, I’m not, I’m actually getting better at fighting.’ And I wasn’t lying! I beat Jose Aldo because I knew him like the back of my hand by playing the video game like him.”
Trumansburg, New York, is a fairly small town and I would not say they have many 6’6” basketball players coming out of the woodworks. Austin’s mom remembers how a lot of the time Austin would play up levels which required him to work that much extra:
“He always competed against kids older than him. It seemed like Austin could do just about anything he put his mind to. He devoted many hours dribbling, shooting, running his own drills.”
That drive led him straight to Cortland.
Austin comes in and boom — instant star. In his first season right away he leads the team in minutes, points, and rebounds. The insane start earned Austin SUNYAC Rookie of the Year as well as being named first team All-SUNYAC.
Austin was aware of his opportunity and made the most of it: “Coming in I was not expecting to play thirty minutes a game but I was expecting to play for sure. I had to put in a lot of work to be able to play that much. At Cortland, Coach Span(bauer) never guarantees any minutes but I knew I had a chance of stepping right in.”
Tom Spanbauer, or Coach Span, retired this season after twenty eight years leading the Red Dragons. Coach Spanbauer was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year on six different occasions — he is no stranger to high level talent and he had nothing but praise for Austin.
“Austin was a pleasure to work with throughout his career at Cortland, not only did he have outstanding statistics he led by example and always gave 100% in practices and games.”
Led by example is the key phrase there. The numbers Austin put up following his freshman year were nearly identical the next two seasons, as were the accolades that followed. But I’d go as far as to say Austin’s character and leadership were more important to the team than the statistics and production. Coach Spanbauer appreciated how Austin represented what Cortland basketball stands for, especially as a leader this past season.
“Austin’s consistent play during his senior season was outstanding which allowed him to be recognized at the league, regional, and national levels. All his accolades were well deserved and he was a great ambassador for SUNY Cortland Men’s Basketball for not just his statistical accomplishments but for how he represented himself and SUNY Cortland.”
One of Austin’s most glaring traits is his unwavering humility. Let me tell you a story real quick. This past year I had the pleasure to have called multiple different sports for the livestreams broadcasted by Cortland Athletics — one of those being the men’s basketball team. In the fall semester, I had a Sports Media class with Austin.
Now, I knew he was on the basketball team and that he was one of the better players but it was not until November when I started my basketball prep and saw his accolades. I would’ve never known — and this was a sports class where we talked often about what sports we watched, followed, and played ourselves. Not once did Austin give the impression of being above any other student in the class.
When I saw Austin’s numbers I was shocked. How could my friend from class also be a pre-season second team All-American — a consensus top twenty player in the nation? To put that into perspective, there are sixty four basketball teams in division 3 which equates to roughly eight hundred and eighty total players and Austin was voted top twenty.
Oh, yeah — you are probably wondering about that school record thing I mentioned. Just nineteen games into his third season, Austin surpassed Jesse Winter for the all-time scoring record at Cortland. Winter, a four year player from 2009-2013, held the title for ten years at 1,525 points.
“Breaking the school record was big just to be able to do it at home with my friends and family all in attendance. My family was tracking the points and knew it was a possibility so almost all of them came. It was cool to be recognized in front of everyone and celebrate with my teammates.”
Then just five games later, Austin jumped Jon DeHay to become the all-time rebounding leader. DeHay, a five year player, held the record for twenty years. Had Austin chose to play a fourth season, he would be on track to score over two thousand points and collect over one thousand rebounds. I honestly do not think that record would ever be broken, it would have to be a true special division 1 talent who plays all four years.
After Austin broke the scoring record, my broadcasting partner Jordan Lewis said it best, “you can ask kids throughout the entire campus, everyone who knows Austin will tell you how he’s one of the most humble, genuine guys on campus.”
The consistent game-in, game-out, production despite the constant double teams and defensive attention was undeniably elite on the national stage. This led Austin to be selected as one of twenty players voted to play in the Reese’s Division III College All-Star game in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Played right before the Division III national championship game, the All-Star game features some of the top talent from across the country. Teams are composed of 20 senior student-athletes, including 18 at-large selections via the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and two who were selected by online voting on D3hoops.com.
“Overall the experience was really great because it was fully paid for, I got to meet a bunch of new people and it’s also really fun playing with some of the best competition across the country — they treated us like kings.”
This was the real deal, coaches from all across the country were in Fort Wayne watching Austin play. Not only was it great exposure but what an experience. The division 3 championship game that followed the All-Star game was one of the best endings to a championship game I have ever seen — and I’ve seen quite a few now. Austin said it was unreal being there.
“After we were watching the Division 3 championship game and got announced at halftime in front of the crowd. It was such a good game and to end on a buzzer beater was insane. #1 play on SportsCenter.”
Over the course of an athlete’s career they’ll play sports they do not like, have coaches they do not love, and be on teams that are not close. That is only natural. That was the case for Austin as well. After not having the best coaching available growing up, Austin’s relationship with his college coach was going to be important. A good coach can be everything for you — the best ones teach you not just about the game but life as well.
“I really had a great relationship with Coach Mo (Maurice Kearney). He recruited me out of high school and we had the closest off-court relationship of any coach I have had.”
One area of Austin’s game that is so smooth is his mid-range jump shot. The first time I witnessed this jump shot I think my jaw went straight to the floor. Every time he shoots the ball you think it’s going in.
With the height to see over defenders and near perfect form, trust me when I tell you this is one of the smoothest jumpers you will ever see — and you can give a lot of that credit to Coach Mo.
“He really improved my mid-range pull up, I did thousands and thousands of pull ups with him. Coach Mo brings energy all the time and that is something I will pride myself on as a coach.”
As a coach? What’s that? Yessir. Austin has his sights on starting his coaching career next, continuing to impact the game in different ways. Austin is surely to be highly sought after as an assistant coach as soon as next fall semester.
When it comes to work ethic, hours in the gym, consistency, that is Austin’s bread and butter. I have no doubt that Austin will be able to implement his skills into his coaching but what teams should be even more excited for is how Austin leads. The character, the humility. After all, his “favorite part about coaching is the player relationships but also seeing the development of the team as a whole throughout the season.”
Do I think Austin could play at the division 1 level? Most definitely. Every team in the American East would come begging I guarantee it. I wouldn’t even put playing professionally overseas past him either — that is how talented this kid is. With those options on the table and still choosing to go the path of coaching, it is clear where Austin’s passion lies and his parents agree:
“Austin has a knack of leading a team all with total humility. As he continued throughout college, it came apparent that Austin found his niche. A college level basketball coach became his dream and focus. We think he’ll get there and be the coach every kid wants in his corner.”
As Austin moves on from Cortland, it may take some time for Cortland to move on from him. Almost three thousand minutes played over the past four years and it felt like the blink of an eye. A damn good basketball player, but an even better friend. AG — end of an era.