Coaching roundup: Winegar named District 2 coach of year

Wawasee hires former Valley coach Luce

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association has named Garrett Winegar of Class 4A state runner-up Fishers its Bob King Coach of the Year for District 2.

Winegar will receive a plaque commemorating this honor at the IBCA Clinic at Mount Vernon High School in Fortville April 24-25.

Fishers went 30-1 and won the Hoosier Crossroad Conference as well as the Carmel sectional, Frankfort regional and Elkhart semistate. The team’s only loss was a 67-66 loss in overtime to Jeffersonville in the state championship game Saturday.

The loss snapped Fishers’ 43-game winning streak, which was the fifth-longest in IHSAA history.

Winegar began his coaching career as the seventh-grade coach at Jackson Creek Middle School in Bloomington from 2013-15. He then was an assistant coach for one season at Bloomington South and three seasons at Warren Central, including assisting on the 2018 Class 4A state champions.

Winegar was named head coach at Warren Central in 2019. After going 18-6 in one season, he became the Fishers coach in 2020. In six seasons as a head coach, he has compiled a 126-30 record.

Fishers’ conference title was their fourth under Winegar, joining conference titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024. He has been named HCC Coach of the Year three times (2022, 2024, 2-25).

Winegar is a 2010 Rochester grad and a member of the Zebras’ Class 3A state runner-up team in 2009. 

He is also a 2014 Indiana University grad where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism. He completed a transition-to-teaching program in 2015.

He is currently in his fifth year as a physical education teacher at Fishers.

Winegar and his wife Sable have three children – Guyten, 4, Griff, 3; and Ruckus, 1.

Henson named District 1 coach of year

Eli Henson of Class 2A state champion Manchester won the Bob King Coach of the Year for District 1.

Manchester went 26-2 in 2024-25, and they are 84-35 in Henson’s five seasons as coach. They eliminated Rochester 71-46 in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 semifinal and won the state title with a 59-54 win over University Saturday.

Henson has a coaching record of 193-139 in 14 seasons, which also included stops at North White and Whitko.

Henson’s father Dave is the varsity assistant at Manchester. Dave Henson, a 1968 Akron grad, is a former boys basketball coach at Caston (1983-88) and North Miami (2008-10) and the former girls basketball coach at North Miami (2006-08). His late grandfather Floyd was the last coach at Akron High School (1963-74) and the first coach at Tippecanoe Valley High School (1974-78). Floyd Henson was also the girls basketball coach at Caston from 1983-85.

Wawasee taps Luce boys coach

Wawasee has named former Tippecanoe Valley coach Joe Luce its new boys basketball coach, according to a report. 

Valley announced in a media release March 19 that Luce resigned after three seasons in which Valley went 54-21.

Valley’s season ended with a 45-43 overtime loss to Columbia City in the sectional final March 8.

Wawasee is one of Valley’s sectional rivals. Valley beat Wawasee 44-29 in a Class 3A, Sectional 20 semifinal March 7.

Luce replaces Lou Lefevre, who resigned after posting a 14-32 record over two seasons.

Valley junior center Stephen Akase, who averaged 13.3 points and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game, is Luce’s son.

“I’m looking forward to some opportunities that are going to be around the corner in the upcoming month that are going to be very beneficial hopefully to not only me but my family that I’m looking forward to,” Luce told RTC in an interview March 24. “I just thought that at this time it was the best decision to go ahead and resign and to let those things fall into place.”

Nathan Pace of the Mail-Journal was first to report Wawasee’s hiring of Luce.

Alford named Oral Roberts assistant

New Oral Roberts men’s basketball coach Kory Barnett has named Kory Alford an assistant coach.

Alford had been the head coach at Huntington University since 2020. Alford is the son of Nevada coach Steve Alford.

Barnett spent 11 seasons working under Steve Alford at UCLA and Nevada.

Barnett is a 2008 Rochester grad.