'The hardest part is walking away from basketball.' Pike coach Bill Zych retiring

In Bill Zych’s first season as a high school basketball head coach at Winamac in 1983-84, his team won its first sectional championship in 14 years in the single class tournament.

It was a great thrill for then 28-year-old Zych. And then the next week in the regional at Michigan City …

“We had to play Michigan City Rogers, the No. 1 team in the state led by Delray Brooks (co-Mr. Basketball in 1984 with Anderson’s Troy Lewis),” Zych said.

That game did not go so well for Winamac as Brooks scored 29 points in Michigan City Rogers’ 101-79 win. But Zych was well on his way in a coaching career that saw him lead seven programs and win sectional championships at every stop but one.

After a 36-year coaching career, including the past 13 at Pike, the 67-year-old Zych told his team Tuesday he was retiring as a teacher and basketball coach at Pike. In his tenure at Pike, Zych led the Red Devils to a 214-110 record, including six sectional championships and a Class 4A state finals appearance in 2012 against Carmel.

From 0 to 32: A quick look at all 32 programs playing in semistate

Regional wrap: End of line for standard-setting seniors, Markus Burton shines, more

Zych is 469-361 overall in stops at Winamac, Rensselaer Central, Jay County, Center Grove, Shelbyville, Perry Meridian and Pike.

“I’ve been teaching for 45 years so that was a consideration,” Zych said of his decision to retire. “The hardest part is walking away from basketball. You always have coaches tell you, ‘Don’t stay a year too long or leave a year too early.’ But how do you know? The basketball part I still love and has been ingrained in my life for 45 years.”

Zych played basketball for coach Skip Collins and baseball for Ken Schreiber at LaPorte, graduating in 1974. He went on to play basketball at Manchester College before getting into coaching as an assistant and freshman coach at Winamac in 1978. He stayed there for five years as an assistant before he was hired as the head coach in 1983 and led the program for four seasons before returning to LaPorte as an assistant for two seasons.

“In those days of single class, you were always trying to move up to that bigger school,” Zych said.

In 1989, he was hired at Rensselaer Central, which led to one of the highlights of his coaching career. In 1991, the Bombers won their first sectional championship in 22 years and then won the regional with wins over host Lafayette Jeff and Twin Lakes in what still remains the only regional championship in the program’s history and the first regional loss for Jeff at the Crawley Center. The point guard for that Rensselaer Central team was current Crown Point coach Clint Swan.

“There was such a great community feeling there,” Zych said. “When we beat Lafayette Jeff and Twin Lakes in that regional, fans were lined up for miles when the bus got off 65 on the way back Rensselaer. That was a special team and special time.”

Zych coached Jay County for one season in 1991-92, winning a sectional title before losing to Kojak Fuller and Anderson 61-59 in the regional at the Wigwam. He was then hired at Center Grove, where he stayed for 12 seasons, winning the 1994 sectional championship, before coaching on Todd Sturgeon’s staff at UIndy for two years.

“That was a great staff with Todd Sturgeon,” Zych said. “He had Stan Gouard (current Southern Indiana coach) and Austin Parkinson (Butler women’s coach) and it probably helped me get ready eventually for the Pike job and coaching more athletic kids at that level.”

He got back into high school coaching at Shelbyville in 2006-07 before going to Perry Meridian for three years and leading the Falcons to a sectional title in 2010. He was hired at Pike following that season, which turned out to be his final stop.

“It was a tremendous job (at Pike) and I’m very thankful and humbled to have an opportunity to coach there,” Zych said. “It’s a tradition-rich school and we were competitive every year. I look back at the players I was able to coach like Marquis Teague and R.J. Hunter. We probably played a schedule that was ranked in the top-10 every year so we were constantly tested against the best competition.”

More than the wins and championships, Zych said he is most proud that 46 of the 59 seniors he has coached at Pike went to receive athletic or academic scholarships in college. He is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Janet, a fixture at Pike games. Their children, son Stephen, and daughter, Allysa, have families of their own. Stephen lives in Carmel and Allysa in Los Angeles.

Zych said the biggest difference from coaching when he started in 1983 at Winamac to now is the time commitment.

“It’s certainly more of a year-round job than it used to be,” he said. “I think that’s probably why you see more burnout now than you did then. Any coach who is competitive is going to use all the available time they have to win.”

Coaches Confidential:Biggest challenge for high school coaches today?

Zych said he found some humor in the fact his coaching career started with his Winamac team playing No. 1 and undefeated Michigan City Rogers in the regional and ended with Pike losing to undefeated and No. 1 Ben Davis in the sectional championship.

“The special relationships you make with people is what you remember the most, though,” Zych said. “I’ve been lucky to work with a lot of great assistant coaches and players and administrators over 45 years.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school basketball: Pike coach Bill Zych retires