CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Olmsted Falls High School coach Pat Donahue is not the least bit surprised his former star player, Steve Gansey, is the head coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League at the age of 26.

"He was always a student of the game," said Donahue, who is teaching but no longer coaching at Olmsted Falls. "He was always interested in how the game was played, why things were done. Steve was the kind of kid who was always into basketball. He was one of the guys willing to work on his game. He always wanted to put more time in. He has taken that right to the coaching ranks."

Gansey returns to Ohio on Wednesday night when the Mad Ants, 11-31, visit the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers' D-League team that is 24-18.

"I knew I was going to be a head coach at some time in my life," Gansey said. "If I said I knew it was going to be at 26, I'd be lying to you. It's a great opportunity, and I'm having so much fun."

After starring at Olmsted Falls, Gansey played at Cleveland State. When Mike Garland was fired, he transferred to Ashland and played for Roger Lyons. He'd already figured out his playing career wasn't going to last much longer, and he wanted to have fun and experience the college life.

He got an internship at Priority Sports and Entertainment in Chicago, run by agent Mark Bartelstein, who represented Steve's older brother Mike Gansey, now a seasonal assistant in basketball operations with the Cavs. A stint at USA Basketball followed before Gansey took a job as an unpaid volunteer to long-time Fort Wayne head coach Joey Meyer two years ago. He was promoted to the first chair last year when former Cav Vitaly Potapenko took a job with the Indiana Pacers. Then he took over for Meyer, the former DePaul coach, when the team started 5-10 this season.

"The best part is that I'm in the head coach's shoes," he said. "You don't really know how you're going to do things until you put on those shoes and become that guy. It's a lot different sitting six inches to the left or the right.

As young as I am, anything that I'm going to endure in my life in the next couple years, I have this to look back on. I will make mistakes, but hopefully not the same mistakes. It has been a great learning experience and a great opportunity.

I would like some more time and some more opportunity to work with these guys. I just wish our season wasn't ending here pretty soon."

Gansey is drawing on everything he learned from Donahue, Garland, Lyons and Meyer. Donahue, he said, taught him how to compete.

Link:
Olmsted Falls star Steve Gansey enjoying D-League coaching stint at age 26