Mad Ants coach Joey Meyer has a little board in his kitchen at home in Chicago. It hangs on a hook and comes to life every winter.

The board reads: “We interrupt this marriage for basketball season.”

“Most of those sayings you see on cups and things don't mean anything,” Meyer said. “That one's pretty accurate. I over-married by a long shot. It's so great because she's so supportive. She's been tremendous.”

The interruptions are 34 years and counting for Meyer. Thirty-four years of traveling where the ball bounces, the last chunk of which has taken him away from his wife, Barbara, and their Chicago home.

For Meyer, it's a lifestyle. Or maybe a calling. It's definitely the family business. When he was out of the coaching box last season, scouting players for other men to coach, he kept thinking about getting back in his comfort zone.

“As I told my wife, if I'm not nervous before the first practice, if I'm not nervous before games, that's when I need to get out,” Meyer said. “It's 34 years and I'm nervous before games. If I'm not, then I'm not in the right profession.”

Meyer, 60, is clearly in the right profession. Some people just fit on a court, wearing a shooting shirt and warm-up pants, sporting a whistle and molding a team. Meyer is one of them.

He takes over as the third coach in Mad Ants' history, a brief history that includes some great individual performances and way too many losses. The Ants finished last their first two seasons.

Meyer brings a wealth of knowledge to the coaching spot, with his background of success at DePaul University and, later, in the NBA D-League, where he won back-to-back titles with the Asheville Altitude.

“Coach Meyer is much more old-school in his approach to the game and what he wants on the court,” second-year Mad Ants guard DeWitt Scott said. Scott meant that as a compliment, a reference to Meyer's defensive-first mentality and propensity for detail and quick, teaching moments.

“My job is to push them beyond what they think they can do, and take them one step further than where they've been,” Meyer said.

Meyer has been around the game his entire life, growing up in the gym with his father, legendary DePaul University coach Ray Meyer. Joey eventually succeeded his father as DePaul coach, an unenviable task that produced great moments and more than its share of headaches. It's tough enough following any successful coach, let alone your own father.

“I always say it took me 16 years to realize what my name was. I thought it was ‘Son of' ” Meyer said. “And it hasn't changed. I'm 60 and I'm still ‘Son of.' But he was just a great individual.

“When I first took over as coach, it was much harder. My first year it was always ‘Did you talk to your dad? Did you ask your dad?' ”

Joey Meyer went on to success in 13 seasons at DePaul, coaching six 20-win seasons and compiling 231 wins. He switched gears after leaving DePaul, coaching first in the reconstituted ABA with the Chicago Skyliners.

“We had about 25 people at our games, and 20 of them were the Meyer family,” he said.

Meyer went on to the NBA D-League with Asheville, winning the league title in 2004 and 2005. After that, he coached at Tulsa. He didn't win championships there, but earned respect from the NBA for developing players, particularly Ramon Sessions, who was a major contributor last season with the Milwaukee Bucks. Meyer worked as an NBA scout last season.

There's significant difference between the college and pro games, Meyer said.

The rules are different, including the shot clock time and the NBA's defensive three-second rule, among others. Then there's the reality that college coaches can plan for a year or more at a time. D-League coaches don't know if their roster will change tomorrow. The Mad Ants, for example, lost Chris Hunter to the NBA's Golden State Warriors last week.

“I used to say they shouldn't call them both basketball,” Meyer said. “There should be two different names, not because one is better than the other, but because they're so different. I've enjoyed this. It was a new challenge to learn another style, another game.”

Meyer isn't entirely sure what to expect from his first Mad Ants team. He said he saw some holes during their only exhibition game at Erie last week. He's tried to fill those. Hunter's departure left a gap that will have to be filled by some combination of returning players Sean Sonderleiter and Anthony Kent and former Kentucky player Jared Carter.

The Ants still need to show some scoring punch beyond returning wingman Ron Howard, too. Meyer has work cut out for him, but it's the work he loves to do.

“His teaching is one of his biggest strengths,” said assistant coach Michael Sanders, who coached with Meyer in Asheville. “He tries to teach the guys how to play and about being in the right spot and all those things that make an effective coach. He gets them to play hard and basically overachieve.”

Meyer's wife and about 10 other extended-family members will drive from Chicago for the Mad Ants' opening game Friday night.

“It'll be great to see everybody,” Meyer said. “It'll be fun.”

For the Meyer clan, there's nothing quite like the interruption of basketball season.