Fishers girls basketball coach Lauren Votaw was one six Indiana high school girls basketball coaches that were chosen as 2020 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced on Monday.
Votaw is cited after leading Fishers to a 23-2 ledger that included championships in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference and Westfield Sectional. Votaw is 51-24 in three seasons as a varsity coach, following 13-12 and 15-10 marks in her first two seasons. Votaw is a 2004 graduate of Greenfield-Central High School, where she competed in basketball, volleyball, softball and track. She played four years of basketball at Anderson University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2008. She later received a master’s degree from Ball State in 2013. Votaw began her coaching career as a Noblesville assistant in 2008-09. She moved to Fishers a year later, serving as a Tigers’ assistant for eight seasons before being named the program’s head coach.
“First and foremost, neither of these awards would have been earned had it not been for an exceptional group of coaches on our staff and the phenomenal young ladies in our program,” said Votaw. “To be selected by my peers in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference as Coach of the Year is a huge honor. I have the utmost respect for each coach in our Conference, which is arguably the toughest top to bottom conference in the State. Similarly, Central Indiana boasts so many elite coaches and teams. The District 2 Coach of The Year Award was truly a surprise and very humbling.”
Brandon Appleton of Angola, Adam Yoder of NorthWood, Kathie Layden of Northwestern, Jerry Hickey of Salem and Brian Smith of Loogootee were also selected as honorees for the 2019-2020 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 – Appleton and Yoder in District 1; Layden and Votaw in District 2; and Hickey and Smith in District 3.
Here is information about the other girls’ Coach of the Year honorees.
Appleton is recognized after leading Angola to a 21-3 season that included a 10-0 slate in the Northeast Corner Conference. In six seasons with the Hornets, Appleton’s teams have compiled a 111-40 record, including a sectional title in 2019. Appleton is a 2001 graduate of Peru High School, where he set school records in assists for the Tigers. He played basketball for four seasons at Tri-State (now Trine) University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2006. He earned a master’s degree from Marian University in 2011. He previously was a boys’ assistant at Indianapolis Scecina and Angola before becoming the head coach for the Angola girls in 2014-15.
Yoder is cited after guiding NorthWood to a 28-3 campaign that included the Class 3A state championship. Earlier, the Black Swish won the Northridge Bankers’ Classic, the Northern Lakes Conference, the Lakeland Sectional, the Jimtown Regional and the LaPorte Semi-State. In six seasons as the NorthWood varsity coach, Yoder’s teams are 108-48 with two NLC championships. He previously was a NorthWood girls’ basketball assistant for six years. Yoder is a 1998 graduate of Bremen High School, where he competed in basketball, football and golf. He earned his bachelor’s degree from IU-South Bend in 2003 and a master’s degree from Olivet Nazarene in 2008. Yoder began his basketball coaching career in 1999 at Bremen as a boys assistant coach. He also has been an assistant football coach at Bremen and NorthWood as well as boys track, girls track and girls golf at NorthWood.
Layden is honored after directing Northwestern to a 29-1 effort that included a Class 4A state runner-up finish as well as championships in the Subway/Columbus North Invitational, Hoosier Conference, the Logansport Sectional, the Marion Regional and the LaPorte Semi-State. In eight seasons at Northwestern, Layden has compiled a 154-49 record with four sectional titles, three regional crowns, three semi-state trophies and Class 3A titles in 2018 and 2019. In 20 seasons a varsity coach, Layden has a 336-149 record with eight sectionals, six regionals, six semi-state and five state crowns. Layden is a 1994 graduate of Taylor High School, where she played basketball, volleyball and tennis. She was a four-year basketball player and one-year tennis athlete at the University of Evansville, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1998. Layden was an assistant coach for one season at Tri-Central, then became the school’s head coach for 11 seasons with a 171-90 record and three Class A state titles. She coached Western to an 11-10 mark in 2010-11, then took over the Northwestern girls for the 2012-13 season. Layden previously was an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 2017.
Hickey is honored after directing Salem to a 25-4 season that included championships of the Mid-Southern Conference, Charlestown Sectional, Charlestown Regional and Jeffersonville Semi-State en route to a Class 3A state runner-up finish. In seven seasons with the Lions, his teams are 117-62 with two conference titles, four sectional trophies, two regional crowns and one semi-state title. In eight seasons as a girls varsity coach, including one year at Beaufort (S.C.), he has a 136-67 record. Hickey is a 1993 graduate of Brashear High School in Missouri, where he competed in basketball, baseball and track. He is a 2001 graduate of Indiana University and began his teaching career at Brown County High School, serving as a boys basketball assistant and varsity baseball coach. He coached the Beaufort girls in 2008-09 before moving to Salem as a boys’ assistant in 2009-10. He took over the Salem girls’ program in 2013-14.
Smith is recognized after guiding Loogootee to a 27-2 campaign that included the Class A state championship. Along the way, his Lions also won the Blue Chip Conference, the North Daviess Sectional, the West Washington Regional and the Jasper Semi-State. In five seasons with the Loogootee girls, Smith’s teams are 90-32. Smith is a 1991 graduate of White River Valley High School, where he competed in basketball and cross country. He went on to Indiana State, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1997. Smith began his coaching career in 1999 as a boys’ basketball assistant at WRV. He became the boys’ basketball varsity coach at Shoals in 2007, guiding the Jug Rox to a 36-90 record in six seasons. He became the Loogootee girls’ coach in the 2015-16 season.
These six coaches will receive plaques as an IBCA District Coach of the Year during the 2020 IBCA Clinic, which now is to be held on dates to be determined following its postponement from original April 24-25 dates because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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.
