Erin Grant was a new assistant on the staff at New Mexico.
When her birthday rolled around, she told everyone not to fuss. She was going to have dinner on her own and she was totally good with that.
Another Lobos assistant coach would have none of that.
Aarika Hughes baked her cupcakes and bought her a gift.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is really nice. I probably should have at least invited her or someone to my birthday dinner,’” said Grant, now a UA assistant coach. “After that, (Hughes) was like, ‘I’m going to make you my friend’ and I was like, ‘OK, well, we’ll see.’ Because again, I had boundaries. She wasn’t lying. She did. She bugged me and I’m really glad she did. We have a really good friendship, and it’s going to be a lifelong friendship with her.”
Grant and Hughes will be on opposite benches Friday, when No. 18 Arizona (2-0) hosts Loyola Marymount (1-2) at 6:30 p.m.
Hughes was named the Lions’ head coach two years ago, around the same time that Grant joined UA coach Adia Barnes’ staff as an assistant.
Both left USC, where they had worked for coach Mark Trakh. Hughes was the associate head coach for four years and Grant was an assistant for two years.
During their time together in Los Angeles, Grant and Hughes spent hours working out, eating good meals and hanging out at the beach together.
Grant’s compassionate side showed during the 2020-21 season. Because of the COVID-19 restrictions in California, USC’s players had to stay in their pods. The only time they could see coaches and other teammates in person was at practice and games.
Grant organized a special Thanksgiving meal for the Trojans.
“She spearheaded and hand-delivered personalized Thanksgiving dinners that fit as close as we could to mom’s home cooking or grandma’s home cooking,” Hughes said. “We took pictures afterwards. We were able to send it to their families or at least give those pictures to the student-athletes. For her to want to be involved in that, especially during that time, and wanting to show up for our kids in that way. I think that says a lot about Erin — wanting to take that route in presenting as being there and just showing up in a way that I think it’d be easy for coaches at that time to just want to take a break with everything we had gone through.”
Both were good basketball players in college. Hughes was shooting guard/small forward and a team captain at USC. Grant was a point guard at Texas Tech; she still holds the program record for most assists (844).
One day at a USC practice, Hughes’ competitiveness came out — with disastrous results.
“She’s on the court and she’s trying to show them how hard they have to hedge on a ball screen and recover. I told her, ‘I’m not playing anymore. My playing days are over,’” Grant said. “I’m a little bit older than her. She sprints out and she shows them. She cuts back and she hurts the knee.”
Hughes fractured her knee, and was in a straight leg brace for six months. Hughes did not miss a practice or game.
Grant took photos, like good friends do, so Hughes could laugh about it one day.
“Needless to say, I’ve definitely learned my lesson,” Hughes said. “I think I realized that it’s probably best that I let the young ones do that job, not me.”
LMU head coach Aarika Hughes, left, and UA assistant Erin Grant worked together at New Mexico and USC.
Since Grant and Hughes first met at New Mexico during the 2016-17 season, they’ve pushed each other to keep improving. Spend some time with them and you’ll quickly see that both are driven, knowledgeable and want to be the best they can possibly be on any given day.
Hughes said she is the more introverted one, while Grant is the life of the party. Hughes is a note-taker and planner, while Grant’s points are simple and direct.
Take Grant’s opinion about recruiting.
“She taught me just instantly being at UNM was when it came to recruiting: ‘You’re going to get who you’re supposed to get.’ First person that ever told that to me,” Hughes said. “You’re going to get the recruit you’re supposed to get. Then the other part about it is just understanding that when you’re playing basketball and you’re looking at how people play together, teaching kids at our level, how to play, how to make decisions — that’s basketball. Teaching them how to play. Not teaching them plays, but how to play. I think that her perspective on how to do that and how to accomplish that, how competitive you have to be to — just be relentless in figuring that out. I think she watches a ton of games. She watches a ton of sports, in general. I think that gives her a completely different viewpoint that I love to hear about and I love to learn from.”
Both Grant and Hughes admit Friday night will be odd. They’ll hug before the game. Once the game tips off, they are opponents.
Afterwards, “We’ll go back to being each other’s biggest fans,” Hughes said. “It’s just a very genuine relationship where I want her to be the best version of her and she wants the same for me.”
