Hamilton Heights’ JR Moffatt is one of four Indiana high school assistant basketball coaches who will receive special awards from the Indiana Basketball Association in 2020.
Moffatt, a longtime assistant for the Huskies boys basketball team, and North Putnam girls basketball assistant Jim Brothers will receive awards as IBCA Assistant Coaches of the Year. Columbus North girls basketball assistant coach RaNae Isaak and Speedway boys basketball assistant Jim Merlie each will be recognized with a Point Guard College Transformational Coach Award as presented by the IBCA.
This is the third year that the IBCA is recognizing assistant coaches with an award. The awards are going to two coaches who have contributed in a significant way to their respective schools’ athletic programs for more than 30 years apiece.
These awards typically are presented during the IBCA’s annual clinic during April, but this year’s clinic has been postponed from the original April 24-25 dates. The coaches will receive the awards at a date to be determined.
Moffatt said that when he first got the email telling him he had won the award, he thought it was a joke.
“The guys around here joke about me being a forever freshman coach,” said Moffatt. “I didn’t realize that there was such a recognition. When it registered, my first thought was that there are so many more really, really good varsity and JV assistants that I was shocked that it would go to a freshman coach. I’ve joked that the only ones who care about freshman basketball are the players and the parents.
“I do feel humbled and honored, though. Hamilton County is a great area for younger level basketball. I feel it’s really important to coach skill development and good habits at a young age. I always tell our guys that it’s vital to create good habits because when you are under stress and pressure it’s human nature to gravitate to your habits. We hammer that pretty hard in everything we do in every practice.
“I have been the beneficiary of being given a great deal of freedom to invest a part of my life in this. My wife Leigh Ann is a great support, I’m fortunate that she caught on to this basketball thing since she hails from the football state of Oklahoma. My son Zac (24) played for me and daughter Shanna (18) was our game announcer this past season.”
BEYOND WINS AND LOSSES
Moffatt has been the freshman team coach and a boys basketball program assistant at Hamilton Heights High School for 31 seasons, long teaching the fundamentals of sports and life to help young student-athletes excel on the court, in the classroom and in the world.
“The impact that coach Moffatt has on his players extends way beyond the wins and losses on the court,” said Edgewood boys basketball coach Matt Wadsworth, who submitted the nomination for Moffatt for this award. “Anyone who plays for coach Moffatt has a friend and mentor for life. Coach Moffatt is now at a stage in his career where he is coaching former players’ sons. It would be very difficult to find a player who didn’t enjoy playing for Coach Moffatt. He has used coaching as a way to instill the values needed to help boys grow into young men.
“Although he has the experience and ability to advance past the freshman level as a coach, he never has had a strong desire to move up. One reason for this is the importance he puts on the teaching of fundamentals. He feels it is important that one of the program’s best coaches is at the freshman level in order to help develop skills. … He has always had the ability to challenge and push his players to improve. This is possible be each player knows how much he cares for them.”
Moffatt has worked with three varsity coaches during his time with the Huskies – Kirby Overman for two seasons, Bill Bowen for 16 seasons and Chad Ballenger for 13 seasons. Officially, he has been the freshman team coach while helping with the varsity and JV teams for all these years. Unofficially, he has been a mentor to the coaches, too.
“The ones really that share this and are maybe even more responsible for it are Bill Bowen who I really cut my teeth under for 16 years,” said Moffatt. “Chad Ballenger who trusted me enough to allow me to continue when he came 13 years ago. Also, I’ve had three tremendous assistants over all these years in Eric King, Brian Kuhn and Bret Deckard. Those guys have been great friends and great help. They serve a vital role in helping me stay grounded when I expect things to be perfect and in ‘patching our players back up’ after I ‘tell them they weren’t perfect.’ I’m pretty old school in my approach with one twist, I coach ‘em hard but I try to love ‘em even harder. I try to get them to believe and trust themselves to do some things that maybe they’ve never believed that they could do. Helping players to realize that they have intrinsic value and helping them to understand how they fit and to cherish their role, no matter what that role is. I’ve gotten to work with good friends like Matt Wadsworth (former HH JV coach and current Head coach at Edgewood HS) who was a part of me receiving this award.”
DRIVEWAY CONVERSATIONS
“J.R.’s relationship with the coaches at Hamilton Heights is also important,” Wadsworth said. “J.R. was Bill Bowen’s next-door neighbor when Bill was the head coach. After a difficult loss or a bad day at practice, many conversations and words of encouragement were shared in Bill’s driveway.”
Hamilton Heights athletic director Kurt Ogden also is aware of Moffatt’s impact, noting that he also has served the community as a pastor at Arcadia Christian Church since 1987.
“Nobody knows the culture of our school and community better,” Ogden told the Hamilton County Reporter in 2017.
“That is my full time calling,” said Moffatt. “The guys here at ACC felt early that it was important that I involve myself in the community, I played in college and love the game. Heights needed someone, I was available, my first game was at Sheridan, and well, I just finished my 31st season. It’s pretty crazy really, seems like it’s gone really fast.”
For Wadsworth, a North Daviess graduate who previously has coached at Riverton Parke (2007-08), North Posey (2008-12) and Whiteland (2012-19), Moffatt’s support has been personal.
“J.R. has served as a mentor and friend to my wife and me,” Wadsworth said. “He has been there to support and encourage me throughout my life and each step of my coaching career. One of the most difficult times of my life was when my wife had a miscarriage. The emotional support provided by J.R. was critical for helping my wife and me get through this time. In addition, he has traveled across the state to watch my teams play. Many times, he has shown up to offer encouragement when we were struggling.”
Moffatt has helped students and adults in times of need.
“Whenever a player loses a parent, J.R. is there to help counsel the player through the difficult time,” Wadsworth said. “Unfortunately, there have been times that it has been the other way around. When a former team manager passed away in a tragic accident, J.R. was there to help the parents overcome the grief they were experiencing. … I do not think that words can fully describe the impact that he has had on players, coaches and parents at Hamilton Heights.”
Moffatt is a 1983 graduate of Columbus East High School, where he played basketball for coach Roger Reed and baseball for coach Lou Giovanini. His Olympian baseball teams finished 30-4 and 28-5 in his junior and senior seasons. Moffatt went on to Cincinnati Christian University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries and also played basketball and baseball. His CCU basketball squads, under coach Tony Wallingford, captured National Christian College Athletic Association national championships in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
“I am humbled, honored and a little bit embarrassed because there are so many really good coaches out there,” said Moffatt. “I’m thankful for the HH administration who allows me to invest in this way. I’m thankful that God has granted me the health to continue. I’m so, so thankful for so many players who are still my friends today, guys who have families that I see in church every Sunday and guys who I see at games when they come back into town to visit family for the holidays.”
In addition to coaching basketball, Moffatt has coached baseball at Hamilton Heights. He was the Huskies’ varsity baseball coach in 2018 and 2019 after serving the two previous years as an assistant coach in that program.
This is the fourth year for the PGC Transformation Coach Awards, which are presented to coaches who have impacted the lives of their players and fellow coaches at their school and within their community. The recipients are coaches who are respected by their players and fellow coaches for their dedication, positive approach and integrity on and off the court. Point Guard College is a corporate partner of the IBCA.
Previous PGC Transformational Coach Awards have gone to Gary Cook of North Decatur in 2017; Gary West’s Chris Buggs and Switzerland County’s Adam Dennis in 2018; and John Glenn’s Travis Hannah in 2019. Previous IBCA Assistant Coach of the Year honors have gone to Union County’s Roger Bowling in 2018 as well as Jeffersonville’s Clark Miles and Crawfordsville’s Danny Pierce in 2019.
Hamilton Heights assistant boys basketball coach JR Moffatt will receive the IBCA Assistant Coach of the Year award later this year. Moffatt has been with the Huskies for 31 seasons. (Photo courtesy Bob Cross)