While head coach Shauna Green, her staffff and players have had to learn about Beasley and his nickname in recent weeks, most of the learning has been done by him. For one, he had never coached women’s basketball players before getting this job. BeforeBe

NewUDwomen’s basketball assistant beat the disease during playing days.

DeAntoine “Cat” Beasley, the newest DAYTON — assistant coach with the Dayton Flyers women’s basketball program, must get this question a lot: How did you get your nickname?

Beasley, 39, explained the story behind the name Wednesday. He said he grewup in Atlanta, playing behind older guys who told him he had an old soul.

“You should have been born in the ’60s,” they said. “You remind us of those cats back then — the cat daddy.”

They shortened the nickname to “Cat,” and it stuck.

Early hurdle

continued fromC1 pops into your head. After I heard that, I said, ‘Let’s beat it.’”

He left school and underwent chemotherapy in Atlanta. Then Beasley had to undergo radiation treatment. Doctors allowed him to do that at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, so he could return to Tennessee Tech. He sat out the entire 1999-2000season and spent a lot of time in the fall of 1999 driving the80milesbetween Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn., and Vanderbilt.

Beasley has been cancer free since 2000. He still goes to the doctor every two years for checkups. He returned to the court in 2000 and averaged a career-high 8.5 points per game.

“Iworked during that redshirt year,” Beasley said. “I didn’t want to be the guy on the bench. I wanted to help us win.”

Beasley did that his final twoseasons. TennesseeTech finished 20-9 in 2001 and 27-7 in 2002. It remains the last time the program won 20 games in back-to-back seasons.

Next chapter

Beasley playedsevenyears of pro basketball in England, where he met his wife, Katie. He retired at age 30 and got into coaching in 2009 as a graduate assistant atAuburn.

Ayearlater, Beasleymoved back to his alma mater as an assistant coach. Hemovedto Chattanooga in 2011, to Pensacola State College in 2013 and then Gardner-Webb in 2014. He coachedmen’s players at all those stops.

Beasley wasn’t looking to move to the women’s side, but a friend dropped his name to Green, and after talking to her, itmade sense to make themove. He reached out to friends in the game for advice on how to coach in thewomen’s game.

“The main thing I’ve noticed so far is their willingness to be coached,” Beasley said. “They’re very interested in the points youwant to make. They’ve been great with me as far as receiving me as the new person on staff.”