By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Oleskiy was sharing a dinner with a group of his former players.

Throughout the meal, some playful banter and debate was pushed back and forth about which of the players had a more successful run, both individually and as a team, during their careers on the G-Men hardwood.

As the players reflected on their memories as evidence, all Olesky could do would sit back and smile.

It was all he ever wanted from his program when he first took over as a 26-year-old rookie head coach in 2011.

“Obviously, I wanted to create lasting relationships and prepare our players for futures beyond basketball, but I feel like that if you are doing your job right, those things should happen naturally and not have to be forced,” Olesky said. “More than that, I personally wanted to get the program to a place where the players had long-lasting memories and that they would be able to reminisce about their playing days and good memories.”

On that night, he realized that over the course of his 14-year career leading the Garfield boys basketball program, he had fulfilled the goal he had set for himself and his program all those years ago.

That and much more.

The Garfield G-Men won the school’s first and only district championship in 2017 under head coach Andrew Olesky.

Olesky announced his resignation as head coach on Wednesday morning. He leaves the program as its all-time winningest coach with 164 wins.

He celebrated a district championship 2017 (the first and only district title in school history), made a Cinderella run in the tournament in 2016 before losing in the district final and set a single-season school record with 21 wins in 2020 before the season ended prematurely because of the Covid pandemic.

“I was confident in my decision. Right now is the right time for me to step away both for the program and for me personally,” Olesky said.
“I am ready to explore different avenues and personally just need a break. It is a decision that I had thought about a lot, and I felt it aligned well with the senior group that is graduating, while the new coach will get a young, talented group to work with.”

As he did throughout his coaching career, Olesky was quick to shift the spotlight to others who he felt helped shape his 14 years.

“My career has been awesome … so much fun,” Olesky said. “Not all coaches are as lucky as I have been. Garfield has incredible leadership now, and I have always felt like it has had great leadership. They have always been tremendously supportive of me and our kids.

“I have also been tremendously lucky to have such great assistant coaches,” Olesky added. “Terry Peterson, John Herchek, Jeff Herchek, Randy Ward, Tommy Bissler, Matt Hill and Zack Smith. They were a huge part of what we did and probably made a bigger impact on the players than I did.

“Most of all, though, I have had great kids. Hard-working kids. They are the ones running the floor, playing defense, rebounding, setting screens, putting their literal blood and sweat into the game. What’s special for me, though, is that they were not just great players, but that they were great people.”

Olesky, a Manchester High School graduate (2001), began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater under head coach Gene Schindewolf. He first coached in Portage County as an assistant under John Herchek at Waterloo High School during the 2010-11 season before taking over the helm at Garfield and helping guide the program to one of its most successful and consistently competitive era in school history.