FREMONT – Looking toward a future with a new coach for the first time in nearly a quarter century, the Fremont Ross basketball program is turning to a familiar face from its past.
John Cahill, a Fremont Ross graduate from the Class of 1987, who led the Clyde girls program to great success for 18 seasons, has been named the Little Giants new head coach.
John Cahill
“I’m from Fremont and I grew up in that gym,” Cahill said. “I became a fan of the game of basketball in the Purple Pit. I played there, I grew up there and it’s a chance to replace, without a doubt, the greatest basketball coach in Fremont Ross history, my friend Mark Gedeon.
“I’m excited to get started. I have a lot of work to do but I’m excited.”
Cahill built a local powerhouse during his tenure at Clyde, going 315-103 before stepping down in 2015. He led the Fliers girls hoops team to six Sandusky Bay Conference titles, 13 sectional tournament titles, three district championships and state Final Four appearances in 2011 and 2013.
He was named Coach of the Year in District 6 five times, the Associated Press Northwest District Coach of the Year three times and the Division II Coach of the Year by the Ohio Basketball Coaches’ Association in 2011 and AP Division II Coach of the Year in 2012.
Cahill is also the founder of the Northcoast Showtime AAU basketball program.
“He is an enthusiastic leader who has strong ties to the Fremont community,” said athletic director Chad Berndt. “He has a tremendous basketball pedigree and is capable of developing a program this community could be proud of. John has an incredible work ethic and his passion for the game is contagious. We are excited by the prospect of having coach Cahill return to his alma mater to lead the Ross basketball program.”
John Cahill cuts down a net after a tournament championship as coach of the Clyde varsity girls basketball team. (Photos courtesy of John Cahill)
Cahill takes over a program left by Mark Gedeon, who retired last month after 23 seasons. In Gedeon’s final season, the Little Giants went 9-14.
Cahill stepped down from Clyde in March of 2015 in order to more easily see his oldest child, Amanda, star for the University of Indiana’s women’s basketball program. That the Ross position came open the same time as Amanda Cahill’s career at Indiana had just ended, was a perfect opportunity for John Cahill to return to a varsity sideline.
“I’m not moving away from my little area,” he said. “I was blessed to have some really good teams, and people would call and gauge my interest in coaching, but I don’t want to be in Olentangy and I don’t want to be in Cincinnati. It’s a very limited scope of where I want to coach because I love where I’m from. It’s home. For me, the timing worked out well in that this is the first year I would have taken a job and a job that means a lot to me happened to come open.”
Given his success in the area, Cahill knows the Ross community will be eager for him to bring a similar brand of winning basketball to the Little Giants. He said it will take time but he is anxious to get to work.
“For me, in my program, there are no politics,” Cahill said. “Whether you’re the richest guy in town or the poorest guy in town, you’re still going to get a fair shake and we’ll create some competition because I don’t come in with a lot of (preconceived) notions.
“We have some good seniors that I think will play some very prominent roles but everybody has a clean slate with me. I don’t have any kind of expectations coming in on who is going to be one what team. I think the summer will be competitive. Putting in the stuff I like to run will be interesting and then we’ll try to tailor it to the kids that we have and their strengths. My expectation is that we’re going to work hard and try to get better and instill a culture of doing things the right way.”
For Cahill, instilling a winning culture starts with a belief in Ross’ ability to be competitive within the Three Rivers Athletic Conference.
“The big thing I want to instill is we’re not a victim in the TRAC,” Cahill said. “We’re a Division I school, we’re not a charity-case. We’re going to go and compete and play hard and our expectation is to do well. Only time will tell, but we’re going to go through the steps of doing things the right way and practicing hard and getting better and getting pride back in being a Little Giant.
“I grew up in Fremont and when I left Fremont, I thought it was the best place in the world,” he added. “I went off to the University of Toledo and, to me, being a Little Giant meant something. I want our kids to feel that way too. It’s a special place.”