Duane Ticknor, a minor-league coaching veteran who led the Dakota Wizards to back-to-back playoff appearances from 2007 to ’09, will be the next head coach of the Mad Ants.
As has been his custom all along, way before the big chair opened up and the daunting title of head coach was engraved behind his name, Steve Gansey was on the Memorial Coliseum floor an hour before Saturday’s Mad Ants game. He was in a T-shirt and sweat pants; warming up the players; tossing them chest passes; being one of the guys.
Welcome to a new dawn of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants; a Youth Movement, where the coach is younger than some of his players.
Frustrated with lackadaisical play and a 5-10 start to an NBA Development League season of promise, the ownership ax fell late last week on 62-year-old coach Joey Meyer. Named in his place, at least for a while with the interim tag attached, was Gansey, the 26-year-old assistant.
And even though he wore his Sunday morning suit with the pale, lime green shirt, there was still some little boy in Gansey as he paced in front of the courtside-seat patrons. A raised leg for body English when a shot went up; a pair of uplifted arms when one went down; fist pumps that would make Tiger envious of the sheer joy of the moment.
“Hey, I feel like I just played a game,” Gansey said, his suit coat off and his tie a little askew. “I’m on the sideline sweatin’. It was great. I want our players to feed off my energy. I want to come in here and bring a positive attitude. Guys see that and I want them to react to that.”
So the Saturday night crowd of 3,480 watched the home team stomp the throttle for a 107-98 victory over the Canton Charge. It was more than a win that stopped a three-game slide; it was Numero Uno in the Youth Movement Era for a team in need of fresh air.
“We were back at home,” said forward Darnell Lazare, who led the Ants with 22 points. “It’s always good to be back. It was a tough road trip (to Reno, Nev., and Canton, Ohio). We just really wanted to come out and play well for each other. It was Steve’s first home game; rookie coach. So we just wanted to give all the effort we could to get a win for ourselves and for him.”
Saturday night was, indeed, all right for fighting, if not fighting back. Even in the first half, the Ants had fallen into an 11-point hole before climbing their way out, with Gansey showing them the way.
“If someone hasn’t been there, it probably affects the team more,” guard Ron Howard said of the coaching change. “Steve’s been here the past couple of years, so we’re familiar with him. We’re familiar with the way he wants to play. Even though he was an assistant coach, he still had input. I think it’s as smooth of a transition as you can have when you change coaches.”
