The University of Wisconsin- Green Bay men’s basketball team is coming off one of its most impressive seasons in recent years after finishing with an overall of 18-14 last season, which was a complete turnaround from the year prior. As the team goes into this season with an entirely new coaching staff and 13 new players, Jordan McCabe is a name that may ring a bell for fans.
McCabe, a viral sensation and child prodigy during his youth, attended Kaukauna High School, graduating in 2018. After three seasons playing Division 1 basketball at West Virginia and two seasons at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, McCabe spent one season as an assistant coach at West Virginia before making the decision to return to the Fox Valley area as part of the coaching staff at UWGB. For now, McCabe’s playing days may be over, but he has a long list of accomplishments and experiences that few can match.
McCabe was born and raised in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and he recalls that he first started playing basketball when he was five years old. He credits his father, Matt McCabe, who played Division III basketball at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, along with his grandfather Bruce, for inspiring his love for the game. Some of McCabe’s earliest memories of playing basketball go back to his family’s home in Marinette, Wisconsin, where he spent lots of time working on his handles. In their concrete unfinished basement, McCabe’s father, Matt, would have him watch videos of NBA Hall of Famer Pete Maravich on a rollout TV. “Pistol Pete videos were kind of a core memory for me. I would just follow along on the video, so that became really easy,” said McCabe.
As his game progressed, his dad started to take videos of him working out and posted them on YouTube just as a way to catalog his journey. Some of the early videos didn’t receive much attention, but when McCabe was in 5th grade, all of a sudden, a few of them took off. “A local news outlet picked it up, came in, did a little story, and then that kind of sparked the whole thing,” said McCabe. McCabe and his father were soon receiving attention from not only local but national media outlets, which turned into halftime shows at different universities, a performance at Oracle Arena with 4-time NBA Champion Stephen Curry, an appearance on ESPN, and an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show which also led to an NBA All-Star game experience for McCabe.
Outside of all the publicity and stunts, McCabe became one of the top-ranked point guards in the nation and the third-ranked player in Wisconsin, just two spots behind his longtime friend and AAU teammate Tyler Herro. McCabe entered his freshman year of high school as an undersized guard, but his craftiness and high IQ for the game helped him to be a four-year varsity player at Kaukauna. As a sophomore, he earned conference player of the year and led the team to a state championship while averaging 24 points per game. As a senior, McCabe averaged 27 points and eight assists per game, which led Kaukauna to another state championship. In this same season, McCabe won the Wisconsin Mr. Basketball Award and also shared the Fox Valley Conference Player of the Year award with last season’s NBA Assists leader and NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton.
McCabe went on to play three seasons at West Virginia University, where he was twice named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team and led WVU in assists as a freshman. He became the first college basketball player since 2010 to record 25 points, 11 assists, and six steals in a win over TCU. McCabe earned his undergraduate degree in sports management from WVU in 2021 and then went on to play two seasons at UNLV, where he also received an MBA Certification. Despite some bright moments during his collegiate career, McCabe felt like he didn’t live up to the expectations that he had for himself.
“I thought growing up that playing in the NCAA tournament would be one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said McCabe. After receiving minimal playing time in the tournament games, McCabe encourages kids who are being recruited today to find the right fit when choosing their school. “For me, West Virginia wasn’t the right playing fit. It was a great life fit. I loved my time there in Morgantown,” said McCabe. Although it may seem that McCabe didn’t “live up to the hype” in his basketball career, he is still grateful for all the ups and downs as he’s used these experiences to transition into his coaching career.
Today, McCabe states that he has options to play basketball overseas, but they’re not great, “They’re not good for my quality of life,” said McCabe. After making the decision to stay home and pursue his career in coaching, McCabe recalls a lesson that he learned from NYU professor Scott Galloway about choosing your talents over your passion when going into the workforce. “You’ve got to make a decision now; who are you without basketball? You’ve got to ask yourself, what are my talents? So, for me, playing vs coaching. I made the right decision to follow my talent,” said McCabe. McCabe joins the UWGB men’s basketball team as an assistant coach this season.
Many fans, players, and even former teammates from the area are excited to see him join the coaching staff at UWGB. Donovan Ivory, a former UWGB men’s basketball player and teammate of McCabe’s at Kaukauna, stated, “I think Jordan is a great addition to the Green Bay Men’s Basketball staff. He has an amazing skill set, but more importantly, he has basketball knowledge that goes beyond the physical aspect of the game. Jordan is a hard worker and a good person, and he has always been a great leader.”
Musa Abdikadir, a student at UWGB who was also the team manager at Green Bay Southwest when they played against McCabe and Kaukauna in the playoffs during 2018, is also glad to welcome McCabe to UWGB. “McCabe was an elite scorer, and I think he could teach the guys a lot about being effective on the offensive side of the ball in areas other than scoring,” said Abdikadir.
While coaching is McCabe’s number one priority now, he still holds a following of over 482,000 fans across his Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube accounts. McCabe hasn’t found much time to spend on making content since he started at UWGB, nor does he plan to prioritize it. He spent some time in college hosting podcasts with the basketball media outlet “Overtime,” and he has posted a fair share of educational basketball training videos, including some that were filmed at the Kress Center, where the men’s team practices. McCabe also started up his own training app where aspiring players can learn from the drills that McCabe did to become a Division One player.
Although fans may be eager for more content and updates from McCabe online, he doesn’t have much aspiration to continue growing his following. “I don’t care if I go to zero followers. Understand that it is a number on a screen. If you are trying to grow a following, find a deeper purpose too. What are you really trying to do, connect a community, motivate kids? Find something deeper than the number on that screen,” said McCabe.
