PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Statzer hired at North Vermillion

Jun. 17—CAYUGA, Ind. — With the departure of Mark Switzer, the North Vermillion girls basketball team decided to bring in someone new.

That someone is Wade Statzer, who the school hired late last month. Statzer said that stepping in to replace Switzer, who led the Falcons to sectional titles in 2019 and 2020 and to the sectional title game the last two seasons.

"I think it is a benefit to walk into a school with a lot of history," Statzer said. "I think the buy-in would be easier and I know form meeting the girls already, they are ready to play and the history helps."

Statzer was raised in Indianapolis, but went to Johnson University in Nashville, Tenn., where he started to build his coaching career.

"I was a student there and the girls team had a practice squad and a few of us guys would come in and scrimmaging for an hour," Statzer said. "I did that for the first three years, then the fourth year in campus, the new coach knew who I was and asked if I would be an assistant. I knew some of the athletes and I worked with the freshmen on what old things the new coach was keeping and what she was trying to bring in. Johnson was a good building block for me in what coaching entails."

After graduating from Johnson, Statzer spent some time at high schools in the Knoxville, Tenn. area.

"My next stop was at Knoxville Catholic. I was the assistant varsity and head JV coach there," Statzer said. "I started to get my first big of stand-up coaching and how to manage the game and players and how to run my own practice. I had a great teacher in Freeman Pinkney, who had been coaching in the Knoxville area and was a great influence on me to discover things on my own. He helped me to get my last post in at St. John Newman school, where I was the head coach for many different sports, but focused on the basketball and developed the elementary programs."

After his time at St. John Newman, he decided to get closer to family in Indianapolis and found the North Vermillion job.

For the last few weeks, he has been working with the team, which will include returnees like Callie Naylor, Braxtyn Dunham and Lauren Ellis.

"It's been going good," Statzer said. "We have been doing some summer skill workouts. We had a good showing at all of our workouts and it's been a good time to develop skills that they need early on. We have a good group and they al mesh together so far and it's been an easy transition so far."

As he is getting his new team ready for the season, he is also trying to catch up with knowing about the Wabash River Conference, but he said that he is going to

"Going through the interview process, I went onto YouTube to see whatever I can find and I tried to find articles related to North Vermillion and any team in the conference," Statzer said. "So I know a little about what we are facing, but I have never seen them action. It is definitely something I will have to see when the time comes."