Congratulations to the 2013-14 Bob King Award winners as Boys' Coaches of the Year.
Al Rhodes
Penn - District 1
Al Rhodes guided Penn to a 23-2 record this season that included championships in the Northern Indiana Conference and in Class 4A Sectional 3 at South Bend Washington.
Rhodes has guided the Kingsmen to an 83-51 record in six seasons at his alma mater, and the Hall of Fame coach has a 539-243 mark in 33 seasons.
A 1970 graduate of Penn, Rhodes attended Tri-State University (now Trine University) and earned bachelor’s degrees in math and mechanical engineering. He played basketball at both schools, lettering three years in high school and four years in college. He also acquired a master’s degree in education from Indiana University in 1982.
Rhodes began his high school coaching career as a boys’ basketball assistant at Angola. After one year with the Hornets, he moved to Warsaw and served four seasons as an assistant. He then became the Tigers’ varsity coach, compiling a 405-133 record over 22 seasons highlighted by the 1984 state championship. His tenure in Warsaw also included 10 Northern Lakes Conference championships, 12 holiday tournament trophies, 14 sectional, seven regional and four semistate crowns. Warsaw also won the 1995 Hall of Fame Classic.
After one year away from coaching, Rhodes took over at Logansport, compiling a 39-47 record in four seasons with the Berries. He then moved to Fort Wayne Northrop, posting a 10-12 mark in one season, before being hired in July 2008 to return to his alma mater. At Penn, his Kingsmen have been 2010 NIC Tournament champions, 2013 NIC co-champions and 2014 NIC champions.
Over the years, Rhodes has guided six Indiana All-Star players, including Mr. Basketball winners in Jeff Grose in 1985 and Kevin Ault in 1996. He also mentored three All-Americans, including future NBA player Rick Fox.
Rhodes also has received many honors, including being named NLC Coach of the Year seven times, was chosen the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette’s Coach of the Year in 1981, was picked as the South Bend Tribune’s Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1992, was chosen the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel’s Coach of the Year in 1985, being selected Loganland Coach of the Year in 2006 and being voted NIC Coach of the Year this season. He also was selected IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 1984, 1986 and 1992.
Rhodes was Indiana All-Star head coach in 1995 and an All-Star assistant coach in 1985. He also coached national all-star teams in the 1988 Capital Classic and in the 2005 McDonald’s All-American Game. Also, he coached in the 1992 Nancy Rehm All-Star Game, the 1992 Hoosier Basketball Magazine East-West All-Star Game, the 1992 South Bend Tribune SunBurst Classic and the 2007 Indiana North-South All-Star Classic.
He has spread the word about basketball overseas, mentoring players in Australia, Turkey and The Bahamas. In 2003, he served as an assistant coach for the Bahamian National Team.
Rhodes, 61, who was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, works as a math teacher at Penn High School.
He and his wife, Kathy, have two adult sons – Chris and Curtis.
Aaron Wolfe
NorthWood - District 1
Aaron Wolfe guided NorthWood to a 21-3 record this season, including the championship of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee.
The 40-year-old coach has compiled a 98-62 mark in seven seasons with the Panthers, his first assignment as a varsity basketball coach.
A 1992 graduate of Monmouth High School in Monmouth, Ill., Wolfe – who attended elementary school in Benton County, Ind. – competed in basketball, baseball, golf and cross country while a student. He matriculated to Manchester College, helping the Spartans’ basketball team to an NCAA Division III national runner-up finish as a junior in 1995 with a 31-1 record. He also played baseball at Manchester.
Wolfe began his coaching career in 1998-99 as a boys’ basketball assistant at Westfield. He moved to Warsaw as an assistant coach for eight years before being hired to take over the NorthWood program in the fall of 2007.
With the Panthers, Wolfe’s teams have posted winning ledgers in six of seven seasons with sectional championships in 2012 and 2014. They also captured the Winning Edge Holiday Tournament title in 2011 and 2014.
Wolfe teaches biology, chemistry and environmental science at NorthWood.
He and his wife, Sonya, have three children – Whitney (13), Aidan (11) and Ethan (9).
Kent Chezem
Covington - District 2
Kent Chezem recently completed his 10th season as boys’ basketball coach at Covington High School, where his team went 18-2 and claimed the championship of the Wabash River Conference.
A 1987 graduate of Clinton Prairie High School, Chezem was a three-year starter for the Gophers and set the school’s all-time assist record with 342. He then attended Olivet Nazarene University, where he was a four-year starter at point guard and set the ONU career record with 687 assists.
Chezem began his coaching career as a boys’ basketball assistant coach at Fountain Central for two seasons. He then became boys’ basketball head coach at Clinton Prairie, compiling a 112-106 record in 10 seasons, before moving to Covington.
With the Trojans, Chezem’s teams have gone 130-92 while winning five conference championships and sectional titles in 2005, 2007 and 2010.
Chezem was honored as Lafayette Journal and Courier Coach of the Year in 2000.
Chezem, 45, teaches government, economics and world geography at Covington. He and his wife, Dara, have two children – a daughter, Avery (17), and a son, Cade (14).
Brent Keck
Perry Meridian - District 2
Brent Keck has just finished his fourth season as the boys’ basketball coach at Perry Meridian and his 17th season overall as a boys’ varsity coach. Over the last two seasons, Keck guided Perry Meridian to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 12 years with 11-9 and 13-7 marks.
Keck is a 1987 Anderson Highland graduate and a 1991 UNC-Asheville graduate, where he played four years of Division I basketball.
Keck began his coaching career as an assistant at Anderson Highland. He also has served as an assistant at Shenandoah, East Noble and Frankton, serving and learning from coaches such as Alan Darner, Brent Tinder, Marty Johnson and Rex Bauchert.
Prior to taking over at Perry Meridian in the fall of 2010, Keck was the head coach for two seasons at Cowan (18-23), four seasons at South Adams (37-49), five seasons at Frankton (76-37) and two seasons at Scottsburg (22-20). He has compiled a career record of 186-178 with three conference championships.
Keck also was the Frankton girls’ basketball coach for one season.
Keck resides in Indianapolis, teaches at Perry Meridian in the business education department and works with credit recovery.
Bryan Hughes
Barr-Reeve - District 3
Bryan Hughes of Barr-Reeve has had extensive success and is a District 3 Coach of the Year. He guided his 2013-14 team to a 26-2 record and has a 384-142 mark in 22 seasons with the Vikings.
Overall, Hughes has a 497-190 record in 29 seasons, including 12 conference, 13 sectional, four regional and four semistate crowns.
Previously he coached three seasons at North Vermillion and four at Fountain Central, compiling 39-28 and 74-21 records at those schools. He twice previously has been named an IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year – at Fountain Central in 1991 and at Barr-Reeve in 2012. He also served as an Indiana All-Star assistant coach in 2003.
Hughes is a 1978 graduate of Covington High School and a 1982 graduate of the University of Indianapolis. He has bachelor’s degrees from UIndy and Indiana State as well as a master’s degree in business education from Indiana State.
He played basketball, football, baseball and tennis in high school and was a three-year basketball letterman and two-year captain at Indianapolis.
- Conference titles
- Fountain Central: 1989, 1990, 1991
- Barr-Reeve: 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014
- Sectional titles
- North Vermillion: 1987
- Fountain Central: 1989, 1990, 1991
- Barr-Reeve: 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014
- Regional titles
- Barr-Reeve: 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014
- Semistate titles
- Barr-Reeve: 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014
- Class A state runner-up
- Barr-Reeve: 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014
Jamie Kolkmeier
Corydon Central - District 3
Jamie Kolkmeier guided Corydon Central to a 19-4 record in 2013-14 that included a co-championship of the Mid-Southern Conference and the championship of the PSC Holiday Classic.
In eight seasons with the Panthers, Kolkmeier’s teams have gone 118-70 with two sectional titles and a share of two MSC crowns.
A 1992 graduate of Waldron High School, Kolkmeier attended Franklin College where he was a three-year member of the Grizzlies basketball program.
He began his coaching career in 1995-96 as a boys’ basketball assistant at Waldron, then moved to Kokomo to work for Basil Mawbey and Charlie Hall from 1996-2000.
In 2000, Kolkmeier became the varsity basketball coach at North Judson, coaching the Blue Jays for six seasons and compiling a 59-70 slate. He then moved to Corydon Central, where his Panthers have posted winning records in six of eight seasons. Highlights of his tenure at Corydon include sectional crowns in 2010 and 2011 as well as co-conference titles in 2011 and 2014.
Kolkmeier, whose overall record is 177-140 in 14 seasons, teaches algebra at Corydon Central. He has been named head coach of the 2014 Junior All-Star coaches. He also was MSC co-Coach of the Year in 2014.
Kolkmeier and his wife, Jackie, have two daughters – Julianne and Josie.
