Manchester's Henson named District 1 Coach of the Year by IBCA

Three Indiana high school boys' basketball coaches have been chosen as 2025 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced Wednesday (April 2).      

Eli Henson of Class 2A state champion Manchester, Garrett Winegar of Class 4A state runner-up Fishers and Seve Beach of Class 2A sectional champion South Ripley have been selected as honorees for the 2024-25 season through voting that occurred from late January through late March, IBCA executive director Marty Johnson said.       

Honors are awarded according to IHSAA district boundaries, and one coach from each district is a recipient – Henson in District 1; Winegar in District 2; and Beach in District 3. These three coaches will receive plaques as an IBCA District Coach of the Year during the 2025 IBCA Clinic, which is set for April 24-25 at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville.       

The Coach of the Year award is named for the late Bob King, the IBCA executive director from 1984-94. King was a Lebanon native who coached at Sacred Heart and Shortridge high schools in Indianapolis before serving as an assistant basketball coach at Purdue University. He later also was as an assistant athletic director and associate athletic director at Purdue.       

A list of former IBCA/Bob King Coaches of the Year in boys' basketball is below. The 2025 IBCA/Bob King Coaches of the Year for girls' basketball were announced on March 20        

District 1: Eli Henson, Manchester

Eli Henson is the IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year after leading Manchester to a 26-2 campaign that included a Class 2A state championship with a 59-54 decision over University in the title game. Henson is 84-35 in five seasons with the Squires and has a career ledger of 193-139 in 14 seasons. That includes a 63-56 mark with one sectional title in five seasons at North White and a 46-48 slate in four seasons at Whitko.           

This past season, Manchester also was co-champion of the Three Rivers Conference and captured the Wabash Sectional, the Logansport Regional and Michigan City Semi-State.           

He also has been named an assistant coach for the 2025 Junior All-Stars.           

Henson began his coaching career in 2007-09 as a volunteer assistant at North Miami while a student at Anderson University. He later was an assistant in 2010-11 at North White, then was named the Vikings’ head coach the next season. Henson stayed at North White for five years and won a sectional championship in 2014. He moved to Whitko starting in 2016-17 before accepting the Manchester position beginning in 2020-21.           

Henson is a 2004 graduate of Elwood High School, where he played four years of basketball, averaged 20.9 points with a high game of 42 points and was voted first-team all-Central Indiana Conference as a senior. He totaled 1,131 points in his career and set an Elwood record with 166 career 3-pointers. He went on to Lees-McRae College in North Carolina on a basketball scholarship. After one season, he transferred to Anderson University as a student only, earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 2009. He later earned a master’s degree in special education from Ball State in 2014.           

An avid golfer, Henson is in his fifth year as a physical education teacher at Manchester.

Henson and his wife, Stephanie, have two children – Hayden, 4, and Sadie, 3.

District 2: Garrett Winegar, Fishers

Garrett Winegar is the IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year after guiding Fishers to a 30-1 season and a Class 4A state runner-up finish. To reach the title game, the Tigers previously won the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, Carmel Sectional, Frankfort Regional and Elkhart Semi-State.

Winegar’s career record is 126-30 in six seasons, a total that includes a 108-24 ledger in five seasons at Fishers and an 18-6 mark in one season at Warren Central.

Winegar began his coaching career as a seventh-grade coach at Jackson Creek Middle School in Bloomington from 2013-15. He then assisted for one season at Bloomington South and three seasons at Warren Central, including assisting on the 2018 Class 4A state champs.

He was promoted to be the Warriors’ head coach in 2019-20, then moved to Fishers in 2020-21. With the Tigers, his teams have won four Hoosier Crossroads Conference titles (2021, 2022, 2024 2025), and he three times has been named HCC Coach of the Year (2022, 2024, 2025).

Winegar is a 2010 graduate of Rochester High School, where he played four seasons of basketball and was a part of the Zebras’ Class 3A state runner-up finish in 2009. He attended Indiana University, earning a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism in 2014. He completed a transition-to teaching-program in 2015. He currently is in his fifth year as a physical education teacher at Fishers.

Winegar and his wife, Sable, have three children – Guyten, 4; Griff, 3; and Ruckus, 1.

District 3: Seve Beach, South Ripley

Seve Beach is the IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year after directing South Ripley to a 23-2 season that included championships of the Ohio River Valley Conference and the Southwestern (Hanover) Sectional. He has a 47-25 record in three seasons with the Raiders and a career mark of 90-97 in eight seasons as a head coach.

He has been named head coach for the South Team in the 2025 Indiana All-Stars Futures Game. He also has been named 2025 ORVC Coach of the Year and 2025 HBCA District 3 co-Coach of the Year.

Beach started his coaching career in 2012-13 as a volunteer assistant at Shelbyville while he was completing his education at Franklin College. He was the Southwestern (Shelby) freshman coach in 2013-14 and the Greenfield-Central varsity assistant in 2014-15. He became a head coach at Centerville from 2015-20, guiding the Bulldogs to a Wayne County Tournament title in 2018.

He then was an assistant at South Dearborn in 2020-21 and an assistant at East Central in 2021-22 before moving to South Ripley as head coach starting in 2022-23.

A 2008 graduate of Forest Park, Beach was a two-year starter and two-time all-conference selection for teams that went 20-2 as a junior and 14-7 as a senior. He averaged 9.3 points, was named Evansville Courier & Press second-team all-Southwestern Indiana and was chosen to the 2008 HBCA East-West All-Star Classic as a senior.

He went to Purdue-Fort Wayne out of high school and played basketball for two seasons with the Mastodons. He transferred to Franklin College, playing basketball for two seasons with the Grizzlies and earning a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 2013.

Beach is in his third year teaching health and physical education at South Ripley.

He and his wife, Elaina, have two children – Henry, 4, and Owen, 3.