Jay County has hired a state championship winning coach to lead its girls basketball program.
Donna Buckley was officially approved as the next head coach of the Lady Patriots by the Jay County school board during the board’s regular session on Monday, April 20, with a unanimous 7-0 vote. A 26-year coaching veteran in Indiana, Buckley is the 14th-winningest active head coach in the state with a career record of 371-222. She will replace Sherri McIntire, who recently stepped down after three seasons with Jay County.
Buckley’s career has included stops at Fort Wayne South Side (2000-01), Greenfield-Central (2001-08) and Noblesville (2008-26). In her 18 seasons at Noblesville, she led the Millers to a 275-148 record with four sectional titles, including a Class 4A state championship run in 2021-22 and a semi-state runner-up finish in 2023-24. Buckley resigned from Noblesville on March 16.
Buckley cited a desire to get back to her small town roots as a driving factor in her decision to take the Jay County job.
“I come from a small town, grew up in Michigantown, Indiana, and went to Clinton Central,” Buckley said. “As I’ve gotten older, I just felt called to come back to my roots, so I’m really excited to be small-town, Indiana, excited about the talent here, so this should be fun.”
Buckley will take over a Jay County team that graduates just one senior from last year’s squad and featured two Star Press All-Area First Team players in sisters Hallie and Karsyn Schwieterman. Hallie, a rising senior committed to the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, averaged 19.5 points per game and was an IBCA Underclass Large School All-State selection, as well as an Indiana Junior All-Star. Karsyn, meanwhile, is a rising sophomore who averaged 18.7 points per game and was named The Star Press Rookie of the Year following her freshman campaign.
In addition to the Schwietermans, the Lady Patriots will also return talented young players like rising junior Liz Brunswick (6.2 points and 2.0 assists per game) and rising sophomore Charlee Peters (4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game).
“When I looked at this job, like I said, it met the small town, out of the Indy loop, the excitement, but also the talent was there,” Buckley said. “54 points a game returning. There’s so much talent, and I feel like they’re in a position where I personally feel like they’re a top-five team in this area. Obviously, Bellmont, there’s a lot of talent there, and there is no easy way out of the sectional or anything like that, but it’s definitely a team that’s loaded with talent to maybe do some things. It can make it pretty special.”
Buckley has a history of coaching highly-touted players. She developed multiple players who went on to play college basketball at the Division I level, including Ashlynn Shade (UConn), Reagan Wilson (Iowa State, recently transferred to Toledo) and Meredith Tippner (Miami, Fla.).
Many of her best players at Noblesville spent years developing in youth programs that were spearheaded by Buckley. Jay County athletic director Alex Griffin cited her history with such programs as a key factor that made her an attractive candidate for the job — in addition to her extensive résumé of success.
“First and foremost, we wanted a coach that has won and knows what it takes to win,” Griffin said. “We wanted somebody that understood not only winning now, but building a foundation for a legacy to move forward, so we wanted somebody that understood the youth programs. She started the youth program for the city of Noblesville, I mean, you’re talking thousands of kids, and she still directly coaches the teams and officiates the games. She’s intricately involved with that youth program, understands developing.”
Jay County has not won a girls basketball sectional title in 20 years, with its last one coming in 2006, but Buckley has a history of getting programs back into winning ways. When she arrived at Noblesville in 2008, the Millers had not won a sectional since 1996. It took her seven years at Noblesville to finally end that drought, but with all of the talent she will have in year one at Jay County, Buckley could very well find herself ending another drought sooner rather than later.
“They’ve definitely been successful in the regular season. I think it’s just finding how to navigate a little bit through the postseason,” Buckley said. “It’s been 20 years. We kind of ran into that my first years at Noblesville, where it had been like 20 years since we’d won one. Trying to build your team throughout the season, I think we’re going to try to up our schedule a little bit and play some teams that kind of give you that idea of what it feels like in the postseason, and I think those things will definitely help get us where we need to be in January and February.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Donna Buckley officially hired as next Jay County girls basketball coach
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
