On April 22, Head Boys Basketball Coach Bill Zych announced unexpectedly that he would be stepping down from his position.
“There’s nothing negative that happened … in our eyes,” Athletic Director Nick Stevens said. “It’s just one of those (things) where he was just like ‘I think I’m ready to be done officially.’”
Zych only coached at SHS for one season after being hired last year due to former head coach Eric Brand resigning.
Prior to being hired at SHS, Zych retired from his coaching position at Pike High School but then felt an “itch” to keep coaching, thus leading him here.
The SHS Athletic Department hired Zych with the intention of him leading the program for the next few years and building on the success that Southport had during the 2022-23 season, during which they won Conference Indiana.
Although Zych’s recent announcement puts a wrench in this plan, the Athletic Department and current Assistant Basketball Coach Isaiah Cousins understand that “sometimes people have to make the decision that (is) the best for them.”
In his statement, Zych mentioned that “building and maintaining a K-12 basketball program is an enormous responsibility” that he believes calls for someone who will be “driven for years to come.”
Looking forward, the Athletic Department is looking to hire a coaching candidate who will be able to develop basketball players throughout their time in Perry Township, citing a desire for more “consistent” coaching across school levels rather than the current “segmented” approach.
“We want to find somebody who’s going to be able to bridge that gap (and) is going to be able to really develop and fine-tune the talent that we already have here in Southport,” Stevens said.
According to Cousins, whoever is hired as the new head coach will have lots of returning talent to work with as there was only one senior this past season. Many of the players had their first varsity experience this past season, which contributed to the team’s 3-8 start on the season.
However, as the season went on, the Cards gained more confidence, ending with a 9-14 record and even beating Franklin Community High School, who was ranked 12th in the state at the time, according to Scorebook Live.
“I think over the course of the season, you could kind of see where we had grown,” Cousins said.
The Athletic Department started on the hiring process, one that they hope to make both timely and fruitful, by opening up applications for the position, and they plan to begin interviews soon.
Ideally, they will have their candidate chosen in time to go up for approval at the May 13 school board meeting to ensure that the new coach will have time to coordinate off-season activities.
“When we’ve got a position that gets posted this late in the school year, we want to make sure that we’re being quick and efficient but effective with our hiring because we’ve got all these summer camps or workouts … that need to take place,” Stevens said.
In the meantime, though, Cousins will continue to work with the team and keep them motivated and working hard to become the best players that they can.
“I’m just trying to be a positive influence to get them to understand that no matter who the next coach is, their objective is to go in there and work hard every single day,” Cousins said.
