To understand what make’s Chad Forcier’s recent promotion so important, you have to step all the way back to the basketball court at a little high school a half-hour southeast of Olympia.

The Seattle native was recently hired to be the second-in-command under the Orlando Magic’s new head coach, Frank Vogel.

It’s the next jump in Forcier’s career, one marked by a distinct pattern: two steps forward, one step back.

He’s bounced around in the years following his graduation from Rainier High School, including a three-year stint as a varsity assistant and JV basketball coach at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland.

That was early in Forcier’s career, when he was still finishing up at Seattle Pacific University purely as a student, not as a basketball player.

As Forcier remembers things, Rainier High was too small to catch the attention of big-time recruiters. He spent his freshman year rooming with one of the scholarship players at Seattle Pacific, and began playing pickup basketball with the college players that spring.

“[I planned] on becoming a walk on going into sophomore year, but I had a lucky intersection — nothing more than luck; right place, right time,” Forcier said.

The Seattle Supersonics, at the time, were using the university’s gym for a training camp. Forcier happened upon a flier and decided to forgo his sophomore season to intern with the Sonics, something he saw as “at the very least, a chance to learn some basketball” and better pursue his dreams of becoming a high school coach.

Forcier slowly worked his way up under George Karl as a one-season job turned into a five-season job.

Two seasons in, Forcier picked up a job at Lake Washington High, part of the coaching staff around LW legend Donald Watts. The Kangaroos made the semifinals of the state tournament, and two years later, Forcier moved on to an assistant coach position at Oregon State University.

“I was at Oregon State for three years under Eddie Payne [from 1997-2000] before we were fired,” Forcier said.

Thus began a rough stretch for the young assistant. Fired from Oregon State as the Beavers cleaned house, Forcier moved northward to the University of Portland and was out of work by the next March as the Pilots fired Ron Chapman.

Then, Forcier made the jump to the pros. Rick Carlisle, whom Forcer knew from big-man summer camps during his time with Oregon State, hired Forcier as part of a fresh coaching staff with the Detroit Pistons.

“The transition for me was easy because I had so much background [from Seattle,]” Forcier said. “It was just a shift in work. Having been coaching in college four seasons, it was different — a different schedule, and you’re not recruiting, not doing class checks, not worrying about academics. Just trying to win basketball games.”

Carlisle and his coaches — including Forcier — were fired two years later, only to be hired by Larry Bird to take over for the Pacers in Indiana for the 2003-04 season.

Four seasons later, fired again as the Pacers missed the playoffs. Then, a break in the storm.

“I was hired by the [San Antonio] Spurs in July 2007, three weeks after they won the championship against Lebron James and Cleveland,” Forcier said.

The former Rainier player-turned-coach was with San Antonio for nine seasons, the longest stretch of his career.

“It was utopia,” Forcier said. “It was surreal. It doesn’t happen in this industry very often, in pro coaching. I knew I was on safer ground and didn’t take a moment for granted. I’m very grateful.”

Forcier learned under Gregg Popovich, and spent his seasons developing young players into pieces the Spurs could use more extensively. He said he had no interest in leaving San Antonio, and was “in love with” his role there and passionate about his work.

Forcier had high praise for longtime Spurs star Tim Duncan, who announced retirement in early July, and for Popovich, who has often been reclusive with the media and the general public.

“He couldn’t be a more polar opposite than what people see,” Forcier said. “He’s the most genuine, caring, thoughtful and generous human being you could ask for, constantly thinking of the people around him.”

Earlier this summer, San Antonio management passed along a call from Orlando General Manager Rob Hennigan, something the franchise typically does to help staff move up in the business.

“To go from my position [as a player development coach] to having a chance to be the lead assistant was just something I couldn’t turn down,” said Forcier, who didn’t know the details of exactly what his new position would look like.

Forcier has spent the last several weeks with the Magic’s summer league team, and while his goal has never been to chase down an NBA head coaching position, Forcier said his move to Orlando will help him to earn more respect around the league.

Just one step at a time.