Six girls coaches honored by IBCA for 2017-18 season
Campbell, Garber, Guckenberger, Mitchell, Meier and Simpson cited as girls’ District Coaches of the Year
Six Indiana high school girls basketball coaches have been chosen as 2018 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced Thursday (March 29).
Jack Campbell of Chesterton, Brodie Garber of Fairfield, Debbie Guckenberger of Brownsburg, Stacy E. Mitchell of Warren Central, Bob Meier of Castle and Jason Simpson of Greensburg have been selected as honorees for the 2017-18 season through voting that occurred from late January through early March, IBCA executive director Steve Witty said.
Honors are awarded according to IHSAA district boundaries, and two coaches from each district are recipients – Campbell and Garber in District 1; Guckenberger and Mitchell in District 2; and Meier and Simpson in District 3.
Here is information about the six girls’ Coach of the Year honorees.
>> Campbell guided Chesterton to a 20-3 season that include the championship of the Warsaw Holiday Tournament. Campbell’s teams have compiled a 369-282 record in 30 seasons as the Trojans’ coach, including three sectional titles and one regional crown. Campbell was head coach of the 2005 Indiana All-Stars, and he was an assistant coach for the 2002 Indiana Junior All-Stars. He also guided the North team in the 1999 North-South Indiana All-Star Classic, and he was named Coach of the Year by The Times of Northwest Indiana in 2006.
>> Garber led Fairfield to a 24-3 campaign that included sectional, regional and Northeast Corner Conference championships. Garber has directed the Falcons to a 93-48 record in six seasons, annually finishing in the upper half of the NECC during his tenure. This was the best season in program history, the Falcons claiming their first regional crown. At season’s end, he was named 2018 Coach of the Year by the Goshen News. Garber is a 1995 graduate of Fairfield.
>> Guckenberger directed Brownsburg to a 19-6 season that included a sectional title and a co-championship of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. She is 50-25 in three seasons with two sectional titles and two Hendricks County Tournament crowns with the Bulldogs. Guckenberger has a 177-158 mark in 15 years as a varsity basketball coach, including a 127-133 slate in 12 seasons at Greenwood. Her time with the Lady Woodmen was highlighted by one sectional trophy, three Johnson County Tournament titles and two Mid-State Conference crowns. She will be head coach for the 2018 Indiana Junior All-Stars.
>> Mitchell guided Warren Central to a 20-7 record that included the Class 4A state championship. He has compiled a 44-31 record in three years with the Warriors with one sectional, one regional and one semi-state title in addition to the state trophy. Mitchell previously was a men’s college assistant at Tennessee-Martin, his alma mater. He also was a boys’ assistant at Syracuse Cochran (N.Y.), a boys’ and girls’ head coach at Indianapolis Washington Middle School, a boys’ head coach at Indianapolis Marshall Middle School, and a boys’ assistant at Brebeuf Jesuit, Indianapolis Attucks and Warren Central. Mitchell will be an assistant coach for the 2018 Indiana Junior All-Stars.
>> Meier led Castle to a 23-1 ledger that included a sectional championship, a Southern Indiana Athletic Conference regular-season title, an SIAC Tournament trophy and the top spot in the Toyota Teamwork Holiday Classic. This was Meier’s first season after serving 23 seasons as an assistant in the Castle boys’ program from 1991-2014.
>> Simpson directed Greensburg to a 23-4 slate that included an Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference championship and a Class 3A state runner-up finish. Simpson was been the Pirates’ coach for four seasons with an 80-19 record, including titles in two sectionals, one regional and one semi-state. Previously, Simpson was a boys’ assistant at Greensburg for 14 seasons, and he worked on the boys’ staffs that captured Class 3A state championships in 2013 and 2014. He will be an assistant coach for the 2018 Indiana Junior All-Stars.
These six coaches will receive plaques as an IBCA District Coach of the Year during the 2018 IBCA Clinic on April 20-21 at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis. For more information about the IBCA Clinic, go to www.ibcacoaches.com.
The Coach of the Year award is named for the late Bob King, the IBCA executive director from 1984-94. King was a Lebanon native who coached at Sacred Heart and Shortridge high schools in Indianapolis before serving as an assistant basketball coach at Purdue and later an assistant and associate athletic director at Purdue.