FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Pat McKee, 317-403-1665
Dec. 3, 2025 IBCA Director of Special Projects
Three administrators to receive awards from IBCA
Strong, Brown and Gilbert to be honored by basketball coaches' group
School administrators Brian Strong of Logansport, Jim Brown of Fishers and Chad Gilbert of Charlestown will be recognized with special awards for the 2025-26 academic year from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
The three athletic directors will be honored as 2026 Administrators of the Year from the IBCA. They are being recognized for their support of basketball programs in their school, area and for state-level events. There is one winner from each IHSAA district. Strong is the honoree from District 1. Brown is cited from District 2. Gilbert is the recipient from District 3.
This is the 18th time in the past 19 years that the IBCA has recognized a group of administrators with a set of awards. The awards have been presented since 2008, but the 2020 honorees received their awards in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. No winners were named in 2021. A list of winners from over the years is at the bottom of this announcement.
Strong, Brown and Gilbert will receive their awards individually at a home basketball game during the 2025-26 season. The exact date for each presentation has yet to be determined. For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org.
More information follows about the 2025-26 IBCA Administrator of the Year honorees.
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2026 IBCA Administrators of the Year
District 1
Brian Strong, athletic director, Logansport
Strong is a 1995 graduate of Pioneer High School, where he played basketball and football. He matriculated to Ball State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 2000.
He started his career in education as a teacher and coach at Wes-Del, serving as an assistant coach in football and softball from 2000-04 as well as boys’ basketball varsity coach and softball varsity coach form 2004-06. He then served as the Wes-Del athletic director from 2006-08 before moving to Peru as athletic director from 2008-14. While at Peru, he also was varsity boys’ basketball coach in 2011-12.
Strong assumed the role of athletic director at Logansport beginning in 2014-15. While there, he was elected to the IHSAA Board of Directors in 2015-16 and served as IHSAA Executive Committee chairman in 2018-19. He also was an IHSAA boys’ basketball State Finals assistant director from 2012-13 through 2021-22.
He previously has been recognized with the 2017 Tom Cameron Administrative Award from the Indiana Wrestling Coaches Association, the 2019 District 1 Administrator of the Year from the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the 2020 IIAAA Charles F. Maas Distinguished Service Award.
In his free time, he enjoys fishing with his children and watching his children in their sports and activities.
Strong and his wife, Amber, are parents to Tate, 19, a freshman at Purdue, and Jentry, 15, a freshman at Logansport.
District 2
Jim Brown, athletic director, Fishers
A 1973 graduate of Southwestern High School in Tippecanoe County (now part of McCutcheon), Brown competed in basketball, baseball and cross country and earned a sportsmanship award in basketball. He went on to Ball State, earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology and physical education. He later earned a master’s degree in education from Indiana State in 1981 and an administrator’s license from Butler in 1985.
Brown began his career in education in 1978-79 as a physical education teacher at Rushville Junior High. He taught at the Indiana State University Lab School in 1980-81, then moved to Triton Central as a teacher beginning in 1981-82. He became the Triton Central athletic director in 1985-86, then added the duties of assistant principal from 1988-89 for the rest of his tenure in Shelby County. He moved to Fishers for the opening of the school in 2006-07, and helped oversee facility renovations in 2009 and 2013.
He also has coached as a McCutcheon girls’ basketball assistant in 1977-78, a Rushville Junior High football and wrestling assistant in 1978-79, the ISU Lab School junior high girls’ basketball coach in 1980-81, Triton Central boys’ track head coach from 1981-94, Triton Central football assistant from 1983-85 and Triton Central cross country head coach from 1988-90.
Brown currently is in his 12th year on the IHSAA Board of Directors, serving as Executive Committee vice chairman in 2016-17, 2022-23 and 2025-26, board president in 2018-19 and board vice president in 2021-22. He also is in his 34th year as an assistant director of the IHSAA boys’ basketball State Finals, and he worked at the IHSAA track State Finals from 1989-93 and the IHSAA volleyball State Finals in 2000 and 2001. In addition, he was co-director of the IHSAA soccer State Finals from 2006-11, a host school for the IHSAA soccer State Finals from 2019-21 and the host school for the 2025 Indiana All-Star Futures Games doubleheader.
He also has been involved with the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. He has served that group as a District 4 director from 1991-94, second vice president in 1994-95, first vice president in 1995-96, president in 1996-97 and past president from 1997-2000. He also was the IIAAA treasurer and conference chairman form 1998-2015 and was a IIAAA conference presenter in 2004, 2006 and 2024.
In addition, Brown has been active in county and conference associations. He was executive secretary of the Shelby County athletic directors from 1986-2006, meet director for Shelby County cross country and track meets from 1987-2006, meet director for Mid-Hoosier Conference cross country and track meets from 1988-2006, executive secretary of the Big Blue River Conference in 1989-90, executive secretary of the RangeLine Conference in 1993-94, executive secretary of the MHC from 1997-2006 and president of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference athletic directors in 2009, 2013 and 2020.
Brown has been recognized with the State Award of Merit from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association in 2001 and with the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 2012. This spring, Fishers will host the third annual “Jim Brown Unified Track Invitational” that has been named in his honor.
Brown is the father to two adult children, Liz and Nick. Together, he and his wife, Gretchen, have eight grandchildren.
District 3
Chad Gilbert, athletic director, Charlestown
A 1991 graduate of Charlestown, Gilbert was a basketball standout for the Pirates, being named Mid-State Conference Player of the Year as a senior and totaling 1,392 points, 511 rebounds and 206 assists for teams that went 52-16 in three varsity seasons.
He initially attended Indiana State, totaling 290 points and 190 rebounds in two seasons with the Sycamores. He then transferred to Southern Indiana, where he tallied 1,011 points, 506 rebounds and 120 assists in helping the Screaming Eagles to a 54-8 two-year mark and the 1995 NCAA Division II national championship. He also was named a two-time all-Great Lakes Valley Conference performer, the 1995 Great Lakes Regional Most Outstanding Player, the 1996 GLVC Player of the Year and a 1996 NCAA D-II first-team All-American.
Gilbert completed his bachelor’s degree in physical education from USI in 1996, then earned a master’s degree in secondary education and administration from Oakland City University in 2001.
He has worked as a teacher at Perry Central in 1997-98, at River Valley/Parkview Middle School from 1998-2000 and at Jeffersonville from 2000-13. He began coaching in 1996-97 as a boys basketball assistant at Evansville Central and followed as a boys’ assistant in 1997-98 at Perry Central and as sixth-grade boys, sixth-grade girls and eighth-grade boys coach at River Valley/Parkview Middle from 1998-2000.
Gilbert was the Jeffersonville varsity girls’ basketball coach from 2000-11, compiling a 220-43 record with seven Hoosier Hills Conference titles, six sectionals, one regional, one semi-state and the 2011 Class 4A state championship. He then was the Jeffersonville varsity boys’ basketball coach from 2011-13, going 44-8 with two HHC trophies, two sectionals and one regional in the two seasons. He was a nine-time HHC Coach of the Year, a 2006 IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year, a two-time HBCA Coach of the Year, a two-time ICGSA District Coach of the Year and 2011 ICGSA Class 4A State Coach of the Year. He also coached in the 2006 Battle of the Bridges, 2007 McDonald’s All-American Game, the 2007 North/South Indiana All-Star Classic and the 2010 and 2011 HBCA East/West All-Star Classic.
As an administrator, he is in his ninth year on the IHSAA Board of Directors, serving as board president in 2020-21, board vice president in 2023-24 and executive committee chairman in 2024-25. At Charlestown, he has developed an Athletic Hall of Fame, a Student-Athlete Leadership Team, a Track or Treat Service Project and a student internship program while also serving on the Athletic Council, Pirate Pride Booster Club and a volunteer coach in the elementary boys’ and girls’ basketball programs.
Gilbert, who was the host athletic director for the 2025 Junior All-Stars doubleheader vs. Kentucky, was an IBCA district representative from 2006-08 and an ICGSA district rep form 2007-11. He currently also serves on the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors and as its South Vice President.
Over the years, Gilbert was inducted into the USI Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011, selected to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s Silver Anniversary Team in 2016, inducted into the Greater Evansville Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and inducted into the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2025. He also was recognized as the 2025 District 3 Administrator of the Year by the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
In his free time, he enjoys, fishing, collecting basketball cards, coaching his children and time with his wife.
Gilbert and his wife, Amy, are parents to two children – son, Bam, 12, and daughter, Evelyn, 10.
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IBCA Administrator of the Year honorees
The IBCA began presenting an Administrator of the Year Award in 2008.
Here is a list of winners of the award from 2008-present:
2008 -- District 1: Michael Pettibone, superintendent, Adams Central Community Schools. District 2: Jerry Holifield, superintendent, Plainfield Community School Corp. District 3: Kendall Wildey, principal, Jennings County High School.
2009 -- District 1: Garry Nallenweg, athletic director, Chesterton High School. District 2: Kevin Horrigan, athletic director, Greenfield-Central High School; Phil Waddell, athletic director, Hamilton Heights High School. District 3: Gary Cook, principal, North Decatur High School.
2010 -- District 1: Larry "Jake" Jackowiak, assistant superintendent, Concord Community Schools. District 2: Mike Huey, athletic director, New Palestine High School. District 3: James Babcock, former athletic director, assistant principal and principal, Paoli High School.
2011 -- District 1: Janis Qualizza, athletic director, Merrillville High School. District 2: Mike Necessary, superintendent, Randolph Southern School Corp.; Kevin Stephenson, athletic director, Beech Grove High School. District 3: Brad Lindsay, superintendent, Mooresville Consolidated School Corp.
2012 -- District 1: Michael Smith, athletic director/assistant principal, Munster High School. District 2: Grant Nesbit, athletic director, Lawrence North High School; Jim Zeller, assistant athletic director, Lawrence North High School. District 3: Paul Neidig, athletic director, Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.; Jerrill Vandeventer, superintendent, Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools.
2013 -- District 1: Don Gandy, principal, Wheeler High School. District 2: Wayne Barker, superintendent, Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School District. District 3: Don Unruh, athletic director, New Albany High School.
2014 -- District 1: Robert Falls, athletic director, Michigan City High School; Geoff Penrod, athletic director, Columbia City High School. District 2: Chad Bolser, athletic director, Richmond High School; Phil Ford, principal, Jay County High School. District 3: Mike Whitten, principal, Boonville High School.
2015 -- District 1: Debb Stevens, athletic director, Caston Junior-Senior High School. District 2: Troy Inman, principal, Pike High School; Dave Worland, principal, Cathedral High School. District 3: Brett Bardwell, athletic director, Southridge High School; Jeff Hester, athletic director, Columbus North High School.
2016 -- District 1: Ed Gilliland, athletic director, LaPorte High School. District 2: Mel Seifert, principal, Plainfield High School. District 3: Rob Moorhead, superintendent, South Ripley Community School Corp.
2017 -- District 1: Patti McCormack, athletic director, Lowell High School. District 2: Chuck Weisenbach, principal, Roncalli High School. District 3: Ron McBride, athletic director, Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School.
2018 -- District 1: Jane Allen, superintendent, Middlebury Community Schools. District 2: Steve Cox, director of transportation, Beech Grove City Schools. District 3: Steve Killian, athletic director, Wood Memorial High School.
2019 -- District 1: Nathan Dean, athletic director, Jimtown High School. District 2: John Clark, athletic director, Ben Davis High School. District 3: Jeff Doyle, principal, Barr-Reeve High School.
2020 -- District 1: Stacy Adams, athletic director, Valparaiso High School. District 2: Shane Osting, athletic director, New Castle High School. District 3: Tim Grove, superintendent, South Knox School Corp.
2021 -- no winners named (winners from 2020 honored in 2021 because of COVID-19 pandemic).
2022 -- District 1: Garland Hudson II, athletic director, South Bend Washington High School. District 2: Pat Mapes, superintendent, Perry Township Schools. District 3: Tom Black, principal, East Central High School.
2023 -- District 1: Jack S. "Chip" Pettit, superintendent, Duneland School Corp. District 2: Brandon Ecker, athletic director, Mt. Vernon (Fortville) High School. District 3: Jeff Cerqueira, athletic director, Floyd Central High School.
2024 -- District 1: John Steinhilber, athletic director, River Forest Community School Corp. District 2: Drew Tower, athletic director, Brownsburg High School. District 3: Doug Louden, athletic director (retired), Forest Park High School.
2025 -- District 1: Steve Santana, athletic director, LaPorte High School. District 2: Heather McGowan, athletic director, Ben Davis High School. District 3: Jamie Lowry, athletic director, Scottsburg High School.
2026 -- District 1: Brian Strong, athletic director, Logansport High School. District 2: Jim Brown, athletic director, Fishers High School. District 3: Chad Gilbert, athletic director, Charlestown High School.
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Gene Milner
IBCA Website Coordinator