Forced out 2 years ago, former Fresno City basketball coach finds a nearby landing spot
After being away from the gym for the past two seasons, former Fresno City College men’s basketball coach Ed Madec was hired to be the Buchanan High boys basketball coach.
The Clovis Unified School District board approved the hire on Wednesday.
“I can’t even put it in words how excited and humbled that I have this opportunity to serve these young people,” Madec said when reached by phone on Thursday. “The last two years, quite honestly, I’ve been spending so much time coaching 6- to 10-year-olds. I coached my son who is 7 and some of my former players’ children and also some young people in the community that I’ve been coaching on the blacktop.
“It’s been refreshing and really rejuvenated me. I believe coaching little kids is what ultimately is going to prepare me to be an effective and productive high school coach. I’ve never coached high school. I coached college for two decades and never had any experience being a high school coach but coaching these kids the last two years will really prepare me to be productive for the high school kids.”
Madec coached at Fresno City for 14 seasons with his teams winning 85% of their games (397-70) under his watch, according to Woody Wilk, a retired Fresno City College sports publicist.
The Rams also captured two state championships – in 2007 and 2012 – and advanced to the state tournament eight times overall during Madec’s tenure.
But Madec was removed as coach and placed on paid administrative leave in February 2020 with one regular-season game remaining because of alleged violations over snacks and team barbecues.
Madec and his legal team appealed his leave at an administrative hearing and a judge dismissed the accusations against the coach in late December 2021.
The State Center Community College District is appealing the decision, his attorney Ryan Griffith said. Madec was never reinstated as coach but remains a State Center employee, Griffith said.
Why Buchanan hired Ed Madec
Madec said he missed coaching and when the Buchanan position opened up, he said he had to apply.
The position opened up after Brooks Malm told Buchanan athletics director James Gambrell he was going back home to Idaho to be with his family after getting a teaching position.
Madec worked closely with Malm the past two seasons and also put on free youth camps at Alta Sierra, a feeder school at Buchanan.
“Landmark hire for Buchanan High boys basketball,” Gambrell said. “For us to get a coach in a sport that we’re really trying to build on a consistent level like Ed Madec, we’re elated to get somebody like that.”
He joins a Tri-River Athletic Conference loaded with star coaches including Clovis West’s Vance Walberg (former Fresno City and Pepperdine coach) and Clovis East’s Adrian Wiggins (former Fresno State women’s coach). And Central’s new coach is former Fresno State star Wil Hooker.
Madec said he met with the team Thursday morning and is ready to begin a new chapter at Buchanan.
“I’m excited for the challenge,” he said. “Everyone that knows me knows that I love a good challenge and I have a competitive spirit, but the most important thing is to be a servant to these kids and to care about them the way they deserve to be cared for. That’s the most important thing for me.
“I’m flattered and humbled and I’m going to do the best job I can to make them all proud.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2022 at 1:28 PM.
