Former Midview, Bowling Green basketball standout Anthony Stacey returns to Bowling Green as assistant coach

Anthony Stacey is returning to his alma mater. After spending the last five years turning around the Toledo Whitmer boys basketball program, Stacey has rejoined the men's basketball 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 90s 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 Sept. 8. The opportunity opened up 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 overall record in his five seasons 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 a regional final. "We've turned that culture around and made it into one of the top programs in the state," Stacey said of Whitmer. "We've had so much fun there and the players have been awesome to me. They really trusted our staff and myself. This was a hard decision. I cried when I told some of them, it's hard. I love those kids. But like I told them, 'our relationship isn't over, it's just going to be different now.'" Stacey finished with 1,938 points and 760 rebounds for 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 six rebounds per game. Prior to Bowling Green, Stacey put up 1,720 career points and 704 rebounds for Midview. He was a first-team All-Ohio selection in Division I 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, however, 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, two steals, shot 38 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the free throw line in 24 games last season, earning first-team All-Ohio and Northwest District Division I Player of the Year honors. He helped lead the Panthers to a state semifinals appearance in 2023-24 and a regional tournament appearance in 2024-25. "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." Only three of the team's seven returning players saw regular minutes, highlighted by Javontae Campbell, who appeared in all 32 games with 31 starts and was named third-team All-Mid-American Conference. He broke the program's single season record for steals in 2025 with 90. Sam Towns also made six starts and was on his way to being one of the team's top rebounders until his season was cut short by injury. And Preston Squire made 18 appearances, averaging 7.8 minutes. "I like the guys, I like our talent," Stacey said. "I think coach Simon and the staff have done a really good job constructing a roster. And they've done a really good job of having a good culture. The guys practice hard and they seem to care about each other, which is hard to do in this time period with NIL and the transfer portal. They've done an unbelievable job of having a really, really good culture where people care about winning." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.