Basketball: Former Medina coach Anthony Stacey rejoins staff at BGSU

Former Medina boys basketball coach Anthony Stacey is returning to his alma mater. After spending the last five seasons turning around Toledo Whitmer, Stacey has rejoined the men's staff at Bowling Green for the 2025-26 season. Stacey had previously served as an assistant with the Falcons from 2015-20 and is a 2011 inductee into the school's athletic hall of fame for his playing career. He hails from Elyria, played for Midview in the 1990s and coached Medina from 2011-14. "For me it's like home," Stacey said. "Obviously Elyria is near and dear to my heart, and my high school Midview, but BG is my home. It feels great to be back. It was hard to pass up such a special opportunity at such a special place. I'm super excited to get going." According to the Toledo Whitmer "X" account, Stacey stepped down from his post on Sept. 8. The opportunity at BG opened late because one of the Falcons assistant coaches, German Srulovich, decided to pursue a career as a basketball agent. While Stacey said the timing wasn't ideal, he added the opportunity to join coach Todd Simon's staff at Bowling Green was too good to pass up and that the administration at Whitmer was understanding. "Over the last couple of years, Coach Simon and I have become closer and closer," Stacey said. "I consider him a good friend. There are not a lot of opportunities I would have left Whitmer for. Whitmer was a great situation with a great team and a great administration that really took great care of me there. But with Coach Simon, our values and morals align. That was important to me. I feel like this was meant to be." Stacey compiled a 79-31 record at Whitmer, including 20-5 in his second season. The Panthers reached the state semifinals in 2023-24 and the regional semifinals in 2024-25. He coached Medina from 2011-14 before joining the BGSU staff for the 2015-16 season. He held a 41-33 record during his three years with the Bees and led them to the XXXX regional finals after going 5-15 in the regular season. Stacey finished with 1,938 points and 760 rebounds with the Falcons. He set the school record for career steals with 226. He was a first-team All-MAC selection in 1999 and 2000, earning MAC Player of the Year his final season with 16.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Prior to Bowling Green, Stacey put up 1,720 career points and 704 rebounds for Midview. He was a Division I first-team All-Ohio selection when he averaged 30.1 points and 13.4 rebounds his senior year. A 2011 inductee to the Bowling Green Athletics Hall of Fame, Stacey also is one of only six men's basketball Cast of Honor selections, the most prestigious award that can be presented to a former BGSU student-athlete. He played professionally in Spain for more than nine seasons from 2001-10. The Falcons will have a lot of new faces this season with eight incoming transfers and two freshmen joining seven returning players. One of those freshmen is a familiar face in Makhi Leach, who Stacey coached the past two seasons at Whitmer. Leach capped his standout career by averaging 21.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 38% from 3-point range and 81% from the free throw line. Leach earned first-team All-Ohio and Northwest District D-I Player of the Year honors. "That makes it even more special," Stacey said. "We had developed a great relationship in high school. This doesn't happen really often. You get a kid you really love and then he graduates and it's over. But in this case, I get to join him, too, so it's awesome." Contact Chris Sweeney at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.