Turner Becomes Southmont's 11th Head Boys' Basketball Coach

In light of the recent boys basketball coaching change at Southmont, this may be as good a time as any to take a look at the list of those who have held the title of Head Coach at Southmont.

Jake Turner will be the 11th varsity basketball coach in the 47 years of basketball at Southmont. He took over for Jon Sparks, who resigned Tuesday six games into his sixth season as the Mounties head coach.

Here is a look at the history of coaches at Southmont:

The first head coach

That’s an easy one. It was none other than Pat Rady. Yes, that Pat Rady. The same man that ended his coaching career three years ago at Cloverdale. In his Hall of Fame career, Rady compiled 761 wins, which is good for second in the all-time win list in Indiana. He coached for 51 years and won 18 sectional titles, eight regionals, had four Final Eight appearances in three different semi-states and one Final Four appearance.

Rady was the coach at Southmont just one year before he took another job. He left Southmont with a 9-12 record and headed off to Winchester before spending most of his career at Terre Haute South where his teams went 591-290 during his time there.

The most career wins

Most probably know that it was Roger Fleetwood. Fleetwood complied a 119-95 record as the head coach of the Mounties. His tenure began the 1989-90 season when his team went 9-13. He then had four straight winning seasons (another record for the school). His last season as the head coach for the Mounties was 1999-2000.

The winningest coach at Southmont

There were two, actually. Of course, Fleetwood won be one with a winning percentage of .556. The only other person who ended his career above .500 at Southmont was Phil Waddell. He coached four seasons and had a 42-41 record before heading to Tipton where he was highly successful. There he coached his son, Matt, who scored 1,677 points in his career and then went on to play at Purdue.

The longest tenures at Southmont

Once again, Fleetwood is at the top of the list with 10 years. Then it was Ron Hendricks for nine seasons. Dave Williamson rounds out the only coaches with more than six years of service. Jon Sparks was just beginning his sixth season and Dan Chadd coached for five years.

The Shortest Tenure

There have been two coaches who have lasted just one year. The first was Rady in the first year of the schools. The second was Jay Kroft who was the head coach for the 2006-07 season. Kroft also owns the record for the worst coaching winning percentage at .095 percent as his team went 2-19.

Sectional Title Win

Actually, the ONLY coach to have won a sectional title at Southmont was, once again, Fleetwood, whose team defeated Crawfordsville 84-81 in double overtime to win the North Montgomery Sectional in 1994.

Most wins in a season

Fleetwood had a 17-win season in 1993-94 when the team went 17-6. Henricks also had a 17-win season in 1984-85, going 17-5 that year.

Most losses in a season

Rick Ford’s team went 0-21 during 1976-77

Southmont’s Coaching History

Pat Rady – 1971-72 Dick Bruner – 1972-74 Rick Ford – 1974-76 Phil Waddell – 1976-80 Ron Henricks – 1980-89 Roger Fleetwood – 1989-2000 Dave Williamson – 2000-2006 Jay Kroft – 2006-2007 Dan Chadd – 2007-2012 Jon Sparks – 2012-2017 (sixth game) Jake Turner – Present