Who is new Sixers president Mike Gansey? From a classic battle with Chris Paul to almost losing his leg, here’s what to know.
Gansey beat Paul's Wake Forest squad in the second round of the 2005 NCAA tournament, worked in Cleveland's organization since 2011 in various roles, and could never beat Jameer Nelson in college.
Mike Gansey will be the Sixers’ new president of basketball operations, leading the latest era of the team as they hope to get over the second-round hump.
Here are five things to know about the team’s new top executive …
Gansey ended Chris Paul’s college career
Gansey, known for rocking a T-shirt under his jersey, finished his college basketball career at West Virginia and played alongside current La Salle coach Darris Nichols, who called the 6-foot-4 forward “one of my favorite teammates” on Friday. Gansey was part of a memorable two-year NCAA tournament run under then-coach John Beilein in the mid-2000s.
The seventh-seeded Mountaineers made a run all the way to the 2005 Elite Eight, upsetting Chris Paul’s No. 2 seed Wake Forest team in the second round. Gansey led all scorers with 29 points in the 111-105 double-overtime thriller, and the game was the last of Paul’s college career.
The following season, Gansey’s fifth (he sat out one year after transferring from St. Bonaventure) and final year of college ball, the sixth-seeded Mountaineers made the Sweet 16, but were eliminated by the No. 2 seed Texas Longhorns on a buzzer-beater. Gansey, who averaged 16.8 points and 5.7 rebounds his senior year, earned First-Team All-Big East honors and was a finalist for both the Wooden and Naismith Awards.
His first college team was full of controversy
Before his time at West Virginia, Gansey was part of an infamous college basketball team. In 2003, he and his St. Bonaventure teammates voted to boycott the final two games of the regular season due to a university investigation into teammate John Terrell, which prevented them from playing in the conference tournament.
» READ MORE: Sixers fans split over hiring of Mike Gansey, a WVU legend who recently traded for 36-year-old James Harden
The move was universally derided across the college basketball landscape, and lost their head coach his job, but Gansey told ESPN in 2005 that he had no regrets.
“No one would tell us what happened,” Gansey said. “We knew something was wrong with [Terrell’s] transcript, but then all of a sudden we’ve got cameras coming at us and no one would tell us what was going on. As players, we felt we had the right to know.”
Gansey nearly lost his leg
Gansey went undrafted after his college basketball career, and signed a free-agent contact with the Miami Heat. But Summer League didn’t go as he hoped.
“Summer league was awful. I barely played and if I did, I was not good,” Gansey said in 2021.
He suffered from major knee pain, and was ultimately diagnosed with MRSA, a form of staph infection. Gansey’s leg was treated, although if he’d waited any longer, he said he may have needed an amputation. But ultimately, after playing a couple years of pro ball overseas, the MRSA returned and led to his retirement.
He played against Jameer Nelson in college
Gansey may have beaten out former St. Joe’s star Jameer Nelson for the Sixers’ job, but he lost to him all four times his St. Bonaventure teams played Nelson in college from 2001 to 2003.
He’s spent his entire career with the Cavs
Gansey has worked for in the Cavaliers’ organization since his retirement from professional basketball in 2011, starting with the Canton Charge. He won D-League General Manager of the Year in 2017 and was promoted to assistant general manager under Koby Altman with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2022, Gansey earned an additional promotion to general manager, under Altman, who was the president of basketball operations. This will be Gansey’s first role as the lead decision-maker.
