Justin Bennett has been hired as Noblesville girls basketball coach.
Bennett has 14 total years of head coaching experience, including nine years on the girls side, where he has a career record of 85-116 at nine different schools. He was officially approved at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
He is currently the athletic director and boys basketball coach at Herron-Riverside, and replaces Donna Buckley, who resigned in March following an 18-year tenure that spanned 275 wins, four sectional titles, a state championship (2021-22) and a semistate runner-up finish (2023-24).
“Being part of the Noblesville community, it was a blessing to get that call, to be presented with that opportunity and to join such a prestigious program and community,” Bennett told IndyStar late Tuesday afternoon. “I’m excited.”
Bennett said everything has happened “pretty fast” over the past week or so.
“Noblesville was an opportunity that just kind of came up and it was the right time for it to happen,” he explained. “Being back on the girls side is something I’ve always wanted to do. I had a ton of fun coaching on the boys side, but being back on the girls side is something I imagined doing. Maybe not this soon, but man, this is a great opportunity.”
Bennett first entered the coaching ranks as girls basketball coach at Indianapolis Marshall from 2012-14, then spent a season at Cascade before shifting to the boys side at International, where he coached for three seasons from 2015-18. He returned to coaching girls basketball at Greenwood in 2018-19, beginning a five-year run that was highlighted by a 14-11 finish in 2021-22, the program’s best in six seasons.
Bennett left for Tri-West following the 2022-23 season. He guided the Bruins to a much-improved 13-11 finish in his lone season.
At Noblesville, the longtime coach inherits a Millers team that was decimated by injuries last season. Only four players appeared in all 21 games as the team limped to a 9-12 finish, their first sub-.500 campaign since 2019-20.
The Millers graduate leading scorers CC Quigley and Ally Hutchinson, but return a sizable group of underclassmen, including point guard Maia Blower, and midseason Bishop Chatard transfers Gianna and Briley Morelli. Briley, a 5-9 guard, averaged 3.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in nine games; Gianna did not play due to eligibility restrictions.
Bennett’s coaching philosophy begins on the defensive end, where he likes to run 80-90% man-to-man. Offensively, he emphasizes ball movement, tempo and screen-and-roll actions, with players operating out of concepts rather than set plays.
With regards to Noblesville, Bennett said he’s watched quite a bit of film on Noblesville and is familiar with the program’s history of success.
“They’ve always had competitive kids who play hard and they have some talent that’s coming up,” he continued. “I’m just thankful that they view me as a person who can develop that skill they already have and to continue developing them over the next few years and get Noblesville to being a super-competitive team again.”
Bennett will be an assistant health and wellness coach helping with strength and conditioning in the Noblesville School Corporation.
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Noblesville tabs Justin Bennett as next girls basketball coach
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
