General | 05/19/22 | 2:56 PM

HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College Family is saddened by the passing of Coach Jim Gross. Coach Gross is synonymous with basketball in Helena, as he coached for over 40 years at Helena High School and Carroll College.
 
Gross served as an assistant on the coaching staffs of both the Carroll Men's and Women's Basketball teams throughout the 1970s and 1980s before being named the Head Women's Basketball Coach in 1992. He also served as the Athletic Director and retired from Carroll in 2003.
 
One of the biggest accomplishments Gross had during his time at Carroll was his 1998-99 women's basketball team winning the Frontier Conference Championship. That 1998-99 team is now in the Carroll Athletics Hall of Fame after being inducted in 2014. He also, along with Tom Kelly and Jim Trudnowski, helped create Carroll basketball camps in the 1970s.
 
Coach Gross will be remembered by the Carroll community, not only for his time serving as a coach, but for his positive attitude and all of the love and support he showed for the student-athletes. His visits to the PE Center were something that the entire staff always looked forward to.
 
Coach Gross' family wishes that memorial contributions be made to the Cathedral of Saint Helena or Carroll College. Click here for his full obituary.
 
Below are some thoughts on Coach Gross from some of those who knew him well in the Carroll community:
 
"Even long after his retirement, Coach Gross continued to avidly support our student-athletes with his presence in the stands and his contributions to our programs. We always enjoyed his visits to the PE Center and his positive perspective on watching our student-athletes compete."
- Charlie Gross, Carroll College Director of Athletics 

"I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to meet Coach Gross.  I cherish the talks we had about the past, present and future Saints.  He helped establish Carroll College Women's Basketball and I will forever be grateful for the groundwork he laid.  He cared deeply about Carroll Athletics and he will be greatly missed"
- Rachelle Sayers, Carroll College Head Women's Basketball Coach 

"Coach Gross was a guy that did a lot for Carroll in a lot of different ways for a long time. He was a really hard-working recruiter, driving all over the Northwest to recruit players. He really lived out his faith as a very strong catholic and provided many great years of service to Carroll College."
- Gary Turcott, Carroll College Hall of Fame Basketball Coach