CAMBRIDGE – Passion, it’s hard to find but easy to see. It is not hard to see in new Cambridge High School girls’ basketball coach Logan McCort.

Attend one basketball game this season and you will see the passion that McCort has for basketball, coaching and winning. As he dances up and down the sideline looking like a sixth defender and shouting positive reinforcement to his players, the passion stands out like a seven-footer in a youth league game.

“That is just who I am as a coach, I don’t think it will ever change,” McCort said. “Maybe I’ll calm down as I get older, but it important to have passion.”

That same passion and love of the game of basketball is what McCort is trying to instill into all of his players from the varsity down to the elementary school players.

McCort was officially approved by the Board of Education at Tuesday night’s meeting, but he has already been working with the high school and middle school players.

McCort has been the boys’ junior varsity coach the past two seasons under coach Kyle Pertuset, was a varsity assistant for a year, and coached middle school basketball at Cambridge the previous two-years.

“Coaching at the middle school is when I realized that coaching is what I wanted to do,” McCort said.

The 2016 St. Clairsville graduate played basketball for the Red Devils and earned All-Ohio Special Mention honors his junior and senior years. He played a season of basketball at Muskingum University before giving up the game to focus on his academics.

McCort is an intervention specialist at the Cambridge Intermediate School.

“I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me to make the jump to head coach,” McCort said. “I love this town and I met a lot of good people here. I really want to stay close to home and this is a really good opportunity.”

Some people may disagree that this is a good opportunity. Afterall, the Lady Bobcat varsity team only won three games last year, the junior varsity team didn’t fare any better and the seventh and eighth grade teams also struggled.

“I believe there is a lot of talent here and the players just need the right guidance,” McCort said. “I feel we are moving in the right direction with the enthusiasm I see. In the past three weeks, we’ve had a lot of girls show up for workouts.”

McCort has already planned a youth skills camp in June and is planning a 3-on-3 league for girls in third through sixth grades in July.

“Good players are made in the summer. You can’t show up at the beginning of the season and expect to be good,” McCort said. “We need to instill the love for basketball and let the girls know there are options out there.”

“I know there are a lot of girls at CIS with an interest in basketball,” McCort added. “That is one of the unique advantages that I have by working at CIS, I can connect to the younger grade levels, get them interested at a younger age, and grow that love of basketball.”

The program is also offering skills development for seventh and eighth graders who will work right alongside the high school players.

“It is important for the younger players to see that the older girls are working hard and for the older girls to set expectations,” McCort added. “It will helps build the program.”

When it comes to offensive and defensive approach, McCort won’t commit to a specific strategy because “teams are different.” McCort and his staff will try to give the girls the best possible chance to succeed.

He will, however, speak about the way the team will play.

“We have to be a gritty team, an enthusiastic team, a passionate team, and a team that feeds off each other,” McCort said. “I believe you have to have that, top down. The coaching staff is all in, the senior leadership is all in, and it just trickles down from there.”

“Something we are going to focus on every day is being one team that is passionate, enthusiastic about the game, and loves showing up for practice every day,” McCort continued. “If we start to build on that, we are going to start having success.”

Joining McCort on the coaching staff is long-time basketball coach Paul Arick who was an assistant coach on several of Cambridge state qualifying basketball teams, former Bobcat basketball player Molly Ritz who was a member of the 2011 state final four team, and another Cambridge alumnus Aaron Mathews who also coaches softball and has a strong connection to many players.

Also working out with the team this summer is Lily Ritz, another outstanding Bobcat player who just completed an iconic college career at Youngstown State and is preparing to play professional basketball.

“I am pumped about that,” McCort said. “She is the perfect influence for the girls. I believe having her around, leading instruction, and showing the girls the little nuances it takes to be good is huge and will go a long way.”

McCort talks about his mentors with just as much enthusiasm crediting his St. Clairsville coach Kim Clifford for instilling passion and work ethic.

“To earn my playing time and to earn my spot, coach Clifford really pushed me to reach in and find a part of me that I didn’t really know I had,” McCort said. “He really instilled that work ethic, too.”

McCort often converses with his eighth-grade coach as well, Adam Vincenzo, the head boys’ basketball coach at Delaware Hayes High School.

“I learned a lot from him,” McCort said. “A lot of what we’re setting up now in the summer mimics what he has done at Delaware Hayes.”

McCort will also receive support from his family in nearby St. Clairsville as his parents Art and Michelle McCort and his brother Garrett will attend games when not attending the college games of Logan’s youngest brother Ryan, a basketball player at Washington and Jefferson College.

A passion for basketball appears to run in the McCort family. Coach McCort is hoping to instill that same passion into his players. If passion is contagious, it should be easy to accomplish.

“I am who I am unapologetically,” McCort said. “I get passionate because I love the game. Kids will sense that. I believe kids feed off positivity. They sense that you believe in them and that you love the game.

“They sense that we care about basketball and are really excited to coach them. We are going to do whatever gives the girls the best possible chance to succeed.”