A veteran to the area, Mike Gaffey was announced as the new head coach of Mechanicsburg basketball in early June. Now, in early July, I sat down with Coach Gaffey to discuss his move from McDevitt, the challenges he'll face up ahead, and more in an exclusive interview with the legendary coach.
Gaffey claims he was "in the mood to try something different. He saw Mechanicsburg as the right fit because of their passion, history and tradition, which is something he values, which may explain why he was at McDevitt for 8 years.
Gaffey emphasized that he really likes that Mechanicsburg is in the Keystone division. This means he'll play top teams like Palmyra, Hershey, and especially the 2022 Mid Penn champions, Cedar Cliff. "It's a challenge in the Keystone division... you got a lot teams and coaches that have established traditions", Gaffey said. "You don't get many nights off, every night out is a dog fight. You can call me smart or call me dumb for looking forward to a dog fight. ... I look forward to getting back into those battles again."
He also touched on the advantage of switching from a private school in McDevitt to a public school in Mechanicsburg. He finds it difficult to first talk to his players the summer going into 9th grade, whereas in Mechanicsburg, he can talk to players, and watch them all the way through their early days. He touched on this by saying, "You can organize your program all the way down to Kindergarten. You can familiarize them to your system, and show them the fundamentals that you preach."
Gaffey says he is and will reach out to Mechanicsburg's AD Seth Pehanich, assistant coaches, the girls coach Clay McAllister and more to see what worked last year with Kevin Rutherford, who was the 2021-22 interim coach.
The full interview with Coach Gaffey, plus his successor, Mark Risser will be available Monday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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