PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Gilreath tabbed as new coach at Wawasee

Apr. 21—SYRACUSE — Derek Gilreath wasn't sure he wanted to be a varsity head coach when he started his basketball coaching career.

That changed the last couple of years, though, and it's led Gilreath to the head job at Wawasee.

Gilreath was officially announced as the Warriors new girls basketball head coach Wednesday. He takes over for Matt Carpenter, who stepped down in March after six seasons, compiling a 52-80 record in that time.

"It's very exciting," said Gilreath of being hired as the new Wawasee coach. "It's been something I've been working toward for the last few years. Starting out in my career, I never really saw myself as a head coach; I was pretty content being a JV coach and a varsity assistant. But in the last few years, I started thinking that I really wanted to do this."

Gilreath, who'll turn 32 years old in May, went to Heritage High School near Fort Wayne. He then went on to play both basketball and baseball at Trine University, graduating from there in 2010 with a degree in elementary education.

Gilreath jumped into the coaching and teaching worlds right out of college. Most recently, he spent time as a varsity assistant and JV head coach at Goshen High School, working under coach Shaun Hill.

"Coach Hill has given me more responsibility in the last couple of years to help prepare me for this, so I'm appreciative of that," Gilreath said.

Gilreath is no stranger to Wawasee, as he has worked as the Warrior Academy teacher and coordinator at Wawasee Middle School since the middle of the 2018-19 school year. Having been an assistant coach against the Warriors has also made him familiar to the current Wawasee girls basketball roster.

"Wawasee's been one of the teams I've been in charge of scouting the last few years," Gilreath said. "And then, being the JV coach, the current freshman class that'll be sophomores next year — the majority of them played JV, so I'm pretty familiar coaching against them. Teaching at the middle school, I've known some of these girls for the past few years from just seeing them in the hallways at school."

It's going to be a young Wawasee team Gilreath inherits, as the Warriors graduate five seniors from last year's team and are expected to have no seniors this upcoming season.

"I look at it as a good thing because I think it makes it a little bit easier to build the culture that I want to build; it's a little easier to get player buy-in sometimes with a younger roster," Gilreath said. "We do have some good athletes coming back to where I think we can do some fun things, especially on the defensive end."

The Wawasee program has seen its fair share of struggles recently, with its last sectional title coming in 2011. That's why Gilreath believes an emphasis on building the program from the early stages is key for future success.

"Right now, the numbers have been down the past few years, as far as participation at the high school level," Gilreath said. "I think if we really get the feeder system strong and get a lot more interest from players, I think they'll be willing to do some things that they haven't done lately."

Gilreath is married to his wife, Jessica, and together they have three children: Sophia (6), Theo (5) and Malia (2).

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.