By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Fishers High School welcomed three new coaches to Tiger Nation Wednesday.
Matt Moore was named the head coach of boys basketball, longtime Northridge coach Joe Keller will be taking over the swimming program, and Jason Cook will be mentoring the wrestling team. All three were officially approved for hiring at the Hamilton Southeastern school board meeting Wednesday evening.
FROM KOKOMO TO FISHERS
Moore replaces Joe Leonard, who coached the Fishers boys team since the school re-opened in 2006. Moore spent the last three years as the head coach at Kokomo High School – Moore replaced Brian McCauley in 2014, when McCauley accepted the head coach position at Noblesville.
Prior to coaching at Kokomo, Moore, who turns 38 next month, served Mount Vernon Nazarene University as the head coach from 2009-2014.
“I kind of did it backwards,” said Moore. “I did a nine-year run at the college level and then came back to high school, and most people do it the other way around.”
The Wildkats played Fishers all three years that Moore was their head coach, so he is familiar with the Tigers’ program and praised the foundation that Leonard set during his 11-year run. Moore said he was looking forward to taking on Fishers’ top 10-rated schedule and going against “great programs and great coaches.”
“First and foremost thing is getting to know my guys,” said Moore. “Today was tough for me because I’m one of the few guys in the state that has to say goodbye to a group of guys tonight at Kokomo, and then I get to say hello to a few guys tonight and tomorrow. They’re going to find out that I work extremely hard. I’m going to be very honest with them about what it’s going to have to take for us to play at the level that I want to play at. And hopefully we’ll get guys that buy into that sooner than later.”
Moore played basketball at Grace College in Winona Lake, west of Fort Wayne in Kosciusko County. He graduated from Grace College in 2002, this after graduating from Columbia City High School in 1998. Moore will be teaching in the physical education department. He got his undergraduate degree in business education, so he taught that for a handful of years.
“I was a college professor on the PE side, got my Masters in PE, and then the last three years I’ve been on the PE side,” said Moore.
The fact that Fishers has already established itself as a premier school after only a decade in its second go-around was appealing to Moore and his family. Moore and his wife have three young daughters and are expecting a fourth.
“When you look at Fishers from the academic side of things, there’s a lot of benefits of being in a community like this,” said Moore. “There’s a foundation of a small-town feel, and for my daughters it’s a great opportunity, and that’s what my wife and I are excited about.”
A LEAP OF FAITH
Keller was “just a young kid out of college” when he became the head coach of Northridge High School’s swim teams in 1991. Keller was fresh out of Ball State University, coming to Muncie from Pike Central High School and swimming for the Cardinals.
But he grew into a longtime coach, spending 26 years guiding the Raiders. Northridge’s boys team won all 16 of their sectionals with Keller, including its current string of 15 in a row dating back to 2003. Keller has also supervised Northridge’s 13 girls sectional championships.
Keller’s Northridge team has had great success at state. The Raiders have eight individual boys state titles since 2005, and one girls state championship in 2013, when Brittney Walters won the 500 freestyle all the way from Lane 8. The Northridge boys have finished third in the state three times under Keller as part of 12 top 10 team finishes at state. The girls have three top 10 finishes at state, getting as high as fifth in 2016.
“It is a big change,” said Keller, 47. “As I’ve told a couple people, it’s a leap of faith.”
It isn’t totally out of the blue, however. Keller was first interested in the coaching job back when the school re-opened in 2006. He thought about coming down to the Tigers’ house a few years later when there was a coaching change – “but we’d grown our program to the point where we were just starting construction on a new pool and being as loyal as I am, I just couldn’t take that step,” said Keller. “Not to say I would’ve got the position then.”
But the third time was the charm, and Keller couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“There’s just a lot of reasons for that, but I’ve so appreciated the opportunity to grow and develop at Northridge over the 26 years,” said Keller.
Since the top-level programs see each other every year at state, and at club competition, Keller knows all about the success Fishers has had over the past several years. He is eager to continue the tradition.
“There’s such a great foundation there,” said Keller. “Past coaches have set forth a good foundation and there’s no doubt that the club staff there continues to do some great things, even in the absence of a head coach.” Keller said he is hoping to “bring continued credibility to the program and absolutely want to help mentor the staff that is there and continue to give opportunities for the student-athletes to excel at a high level.”
FORMER STATE CHAMPION
Jason Cook, the new wrestling coach, wasn’t able to attend the school board meeting due to another engagement. Cook comes from West Lafayette High School, where he was an assistant last season, and spent eight years as an assistant at Chesterton prior to that.
Cook was a successful high school wrestler, winning an undefeated state championship for Valparaiso in 2002. Cook finished his senior season 48-0, after being runner-up a 125 pounds his junior year and the 106-pound runner-up as a freshman.
Fishers High School will have three new head coaches, as their hirings were approved at Wednesday’s Hamilton Southeastern school board meeting. Joe Keller (left) will coach the Tigers swim team and Matt Moore (right) will coach the boys basketball team. Jason Cook was hired as the wrestling coach; he was unable to attend the meeting due to another engagement. (Photo provided)