GCU connection plugs McCabe into coaching role

Once Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew was gracious enough to give Jordan McCabe a second chance to join GCU basketball, McCabe was in a different place with an emphatic acceptance.

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Four years after a point guard known for slick ball-handling chose UNLV over GCU for a 2021 transfer, McCabe was coming off the first two years of his coaching career when he accepted Drew's offer to be a new Lopes assistant coach at 26 years old.

"Jordan is an extremely hard worker who has a great reputation in the basketball world," Drew said. "He was a very good player and has shown a great skill to coach in his career so far."

In the process of making McCabe one of GCU's assistant coaches, Drew affirmed the reasons why McCabe was drawn to working on his staff and joining a program that has reached four NCAA Tournaments in Drew's five seasons.

The possibility of the job arose in mid-May. With an approaching May 31 wedding for him and his college sweetheart, Olivia, McCabe texted Drew about the position after maintaining a relationship with him in recent years.

Drew responded, "I know you'd be great, but I need you to focus your time and energy on your wedding. That's the most important thing."

"He prioritizes the right things," McCabe said. "That's who I want to work for.

"The biggest thing that attracted me to Grand Canyon was Coach Drew. He has a very intentional way of living life from a faith foundation and a competitive character, where we're going to go hard and do things the right way. I trust in his moral compass and how he runs a basketball program."

Jordan McCabe

McCabe played his first three collegiate seasons under Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins at West Virginia and his final two at UNLV, where he chose the opportunity of a roster with one returning player for new coach Kevin Kruger over GCU.

"It's was Jovan Blacksher's fault for being as good as he was," McCabe said. "I did not tell Coach Drew no. I told Jovan no because I wasn't going to play."

McCabe averaged 4.4 assists when he started every game in the 2021-22 season for an 18-14 Runnin' Rebels team. He kept a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio over his playing career.

Those handles are what brought him fame before he even became the 2018 Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin over Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, his friend and competitor who won the state's Gatorade Player of the Year award.

McCabe's skills, which he sharpened for two hours per day in his grade-school years, caught eyes to appear on The Ellen Degeneres Show, perform at halftimes of Washington, Wisconsin and Golden State games and unveil his eye-dazzling handles and tricks at 2011 NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

While living near Seattle, a local TV news story about 12-year-old McCabe's ball-handling drew 2.4 million views on YouTube. Over the years, his TikTok account grew to 235,000 followers and his Instagram hit 196,000 followers as he shared tutorials and clips.

"I don't have Instagram, X or TikTok on my phone any more," McCabe said. "I completely turned all of it off once I got into coaching. I had to get rid of it.

"I happened to play a flashier brand of basketball at the same time the mixtape culture became a thing. I had a big personality. I still do. It was just happenstance. I don't care if that number goes to zero."

But McCabe does draw wide-ranging respect and credentials with many hoopsters being part of the 1.4 million who watched a video he posted about floaters for undersized guards.

McCabe's first year of coaching ended with the West Virginia staff being let go in 2024. He hooked on with Sundance Wicks at Wisconsin-Green Bay but Wicks left for Wyoming before the season. New head coach Doug Gottlieb retained McCabe, who now leaves the Phoenix for Phoenix.

"It was an easy one – no-brainer," McCabe said. "All the boxes were checked."

McCabe is anxious to learn from a veteran GCU staff, knowing that his areas of strength coaching offense, defense and special teams are to be determined.

Until then, his energy and ability to connect to all walks of basketball and university life will serve the program well.

"My forte needs to be the margins – before and after practice, the film room and most importantly the relationships between coaches and players," McCabe said.

"I'm just going to learn as much as I can. At some point in my career, I want to be a head coach, but I know that's way down the road. To be in an office with the coaches Coach Drew has put together with himself, it's an invaluable amount of experience that I get to draw from."

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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