Congratulations to the 2010-11 Bob King Award winners as Girls' Coaches of the Year.
Mike Hamacher
Hobart - District I
Mike Hamacher led the Brickies to an 18-2 campaign that was especially remarkable in that the team lost its top returning player to injury in the fourth game of the season. He is 95-55 in seven seasons at Hobart. He previously coached at the JV, freshman and middle-school levels, and he was an instructor and director at Strictly Shooting Inc., a basketball shooting school, for 10 years.
He currently teaches U.S. History and sociology at Hobart High School, and he has been named head coach of the 2011 Junior All-Stars. His other accomplishments at Hobart include:
- Lake Conference Black Division co-champions in 2005
- Northwest Crossroads Conference champions in 2009 (co-champions), 2010 and 2011
- Lake Conference Coach of the Year in 2005
- Northwest Crossroads Conference Coach of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011
- Northwest Indiana Times Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 2009
- Gary Post-Tribune Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2011
- IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year in 2011
Doug Springer
Northridge - District I
Doug Springer directed the Raiders to a 18-3 season and a second-place finish in the Northern Lakes Conference. He is 49-36 at Northridge in four years. Including three seasons at Wheeler, where his teams went 52-18, his teams have gone 101-54 in seven seasons.
Springer is a 2001 graduate of Wabash College and a 2004 graduate of Valparaiso University School of Law. During his coaching tenure, Springer’s teams have won three conference championships, two sectional titles and was a regional finalist. At Wheeler, Springer coached 2007 Indiana All-Star and current Notre Dame senior Becca Bruszewski.
In his time at Northridge, the Raiders twice have set school records for wins in a season, have had the best season in school history and set a school record for defensive average in a season. They finished 2010-11 ranked eighth in the ICGSA Class 4A poll and as the state’s No. 12 team defensively.
Springer was selected the ICGSA District 2 Coach of the Year in 2010 and served as a head coach for the 2010 Indiana Class Junior All-Star Game held in New Castle. He has been chosen to be an assistant coach for the 2011 Junior All-Stars and serves as the ICGSA polling chair for Class 4A.
David Baxter
Benton Central - District II
David Baxter directed the Lady Bison to a 23-2 record, a Hoosier Conference title and a Class 3A state runner-up finish in his first season.
He previously coached at Attica and has a 99-84 overall record in eight seasons. While there, Baxter guided the Red Ramblers to sectional titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and a regional crown in 2006. Baxter coached 2008 Miss Basketball Brittany Rayburn at Attica and was a coach in the 2008 North-South Indiana All-Star Classic.
Baxter is a 1991 graduate of Covington High School and a 1997 graduate of Purdue University. He coached at Attica from 2001-08, then became an assistant for two years at Benton Central before being promoted to the head job this season.
He currently is a fourth-grade teacher in the Attica School Corp.
Julie Shelton
Mt. Vernon (Fortville) - District II
Julie Shelton of Mt. Vernon is honored after guiding the Marauders to a 21-2 season that included a sectional title and the championship of the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Her MV teams are 197-92 in 13 seasons.
A graduate of Seymour High School, Shelton was the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,564) and rebounder (912) en route to becoming a 1989 Indiana All-Star. She then went to Butler University., where the former Julie VonDielingen scored a school-record 2,018 points, was a four-time first-team all-conference player and was 1993 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Player of the Year. She still owns multiple game, season and career records.
After college, Shelton became a teacher and coach at Mt. Vernon, initially serving as a basketball assistant and head volleyball coach. She was named the basketball head coach for the 1998-99 season guided the Marauders to HHC titles in 2000 and 2001. During Shelton’s tenure, MV also previously won sectionals in 2003 and 2005 plus a regional in 2005.
Shelton previously was the IBCA District 4 Coach of the Year in 2000, and she was head coach for the Indiana All-Stars in 2006. Earlier this year, Shelton was selected as ICGSA District 4 Coach of the Year.
Beth DeVinney
Seymour - District III
Beth DeVinney guided the Owls to a 16-5 season in 2010-11 that included the championship of the Twin Lakes Invitational. She is 127-70 in 10 seasons at Seymour, including a sectional title in 2008.
She is 181-98 in 15 seasons overall, including five years at Pike.
A graduate of Boone Grove High School, where she played basketball for four years, DeVinney attended Purdue University and began her coaching career while a college student as a volunteer assistant to Jan Conner at Benton Central. She became an assistant coach at Pike in 1992 and was promoted to Red Devils head coach for the 1996-97 season.
DeVinney was an assistant coach for the 2007 Indiana Junior All-Stars and an assistant coach for the 2009 Indiana All-Stars. She also coached teams in the Down Under Hoops Classic in Australia in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Corey Simon
Evansville North - District III
Corey Simon directed Evansville North to an 18-5 record in 2010-11, including a Class 4A sectional title and runner-up finish in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference.
Simon has been with the Huskies for 11 seasons, the last seven as the program’s head coach. His teams compiled a 69-80 record in those seven seasons, and this year’s sectional crown was Evansville North’s first since 1999 just the program’s third overall.
A graduate of Gibson Southern High School, Simon earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana State University and a master’s degree from Oakland City University. He currently teaches math at Evansville North.
