History of the IBCA Clinics Authored by Steve Witty, Former Executive Director 2002-2022

History and Evolution of the IBCA Spring Clinic

Authored by Steve Witty, IBCA Executive Director 2002-2022

The purpose of the IBCA as an organization as stated in the 1974 Articles of Incorporation was education and fellowship. The first known records of an IBCA Clinic are in 1975. IBCA Mini Clinics were held at 8 sites across the state in conjunction with the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) Teacher Institute days in late October. Teacher Institute days were for teacher staff development on a Thursday and Friday in late October. Educational conferences were held throughout the state. The IBCA Mini Clinics across the state lasted from 9-12noon.There were separate sessions for Elementary, Junior High, Jr. Varsity, Varsity and College Coaches across the state. The Teacher Institute Mini Clinics were discontinued in 1985.

From 1975-1982 the IBCA Awards Banquet was held in the Egyptian Room of the Murat Temple between sessions of the state Finals. Starting in 1983 the IBCA Awards Banquet became a part of the Spring Clinic.

In April of 1975 the first known Spring clinic was held at Holiday Inn Northeast and Lawrence Central High School. The clinic began in the hotel on Friday evening from 6-10pm. On Saturday from 8am-3:30pm the clinic was held at Lawrence Central High School. There were separate breakout speaking sessions for boys’ and girls’ coaches. 500 coaches were in attendance.

In April 1978 the clinic became a Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday event. Some clinic sessions were held at a hotel and the other sessions were held at Lawrence North High School. There were separate breakout speaking sessions for boys’ and girls’ coaches. The clinic provided a buffet on Friday night, a luncheon on Saturday and the FCA sponsored a breakfast on Sunday morn.

In April 1983 after surveying member coaches, it was decided to discontinue the Sunday clinic session but begin earlier on Friday at 1pm so coaches would only have a one-night hotel stay. The clinic was moved out of a hotel and all sessions were held at Lawrence North. There were separate breakout speaking sessions for boys’ and girls’ coaches. The clinic provided a Friday night buffet and a Saturday luncheon.

In 1983 the IBCA also held a clinic on the day of the Indiana/ Kentucky All star games. Not much info about this concept but the clinic lasted for about 4 years before it was discontinued for lack of interest.

(1984-2005) The clinic was Friday 1-9:30pm and Saturday 8:30am-12noon at Lawrence North. During this era Easter drove the clinic date and the school day drove the clinic agenda. Later the clinic date was moved later into the month to be more consistent with LN yearly schedule and avoid Easter conflicts. In more recent years this put the clinic date during a D1 NCAA recruiting period which made it difficult to for D1 college coaches to attend or agree to speak.

There was an awards luncheon Saturday to end the clinic and a buffet meal available at the end of the clinic on Friday evening. The IBCA provided donuts and coffee during the registration period on Friday mid-afternoon when the clinic transitioned from the auditorium to the main gym once the school day ended. In later years sandwiches or pizza were available instead of donuts. This all took place in the commons area where the vendors were set up. Even though the clinic had been going on since 1pm the vendors were not allowed to set up until after 4pm Friday once school was out. This was problematic for the vendors. Since the Saturday awards luncheon was not well it was discontinued in the early 2000s, and an awards program became a part of the Friday night clinic agenda by 2005. In early 2000s moving the clinic downtown was explored but expense and no hotel or meeting space was large enough. The possibility of utilizing the Pacers facilities was explored but inconsistent date availability due to the yearly playoff schedule and where the Pacers might qualify from year to year was problematic.

(2006-2010) The clinic was billed as a Big Weekend for High School basketball in Indianapolis. The clinic continued to be held at LN on Friday 12noon-9:30pm and Saturday 8:30am-12noon. Separate breakout sessions for boys’ and girls’ coaches were continued but everyone was brought back together mid Saturday morning to hear a college coach speaker in the auditorium. Later Saturday afternoon and evening the IBCA Boys Top 100 Showcase was held at Ben Davis High School. The Hoosier Basketball Magazine Top 40 was then held on Sunday afternoon and evening. The Friday night buffet became problematic. Even though 1000+ coaches might have been in attendance at the clinic it was difficult to know for sure how many would actually attend the buffet at the end the clinic Friday evening or how much food to order. At 9:30 pm it was really late for a big buffet dinner when many coaches were interested in socializing with fellow coaches at various watering holes. A lot of money was spent, and a lot of food was wasted. Member coaches were surveyed to see if they wanted to continue the buffet tradition or whether they would rather have an additional speaker built into the clinic agenda. The consensus was that they would rather have an additional speaker, so the Friday night buffet was discontinued.

(2011-2017) In 2011 the Friday/ Saturday morn schedule continued. The Top 100 Showcases were moved to June and July. At the request of some younger coaches who wanted to hear Hall of Fame or successful veteran Coaches in a question-and-answer format, the Coaches Roundtable session was created. So, the clinic opened with this session. Bob Lovell served as the moderator. This helped resolve the first speaker of a clinic issue. Younger coaches that suggested this session were more likely to attend but more veteran coaches might not. Selected Roundtable coaches were told when asked to participate, as the opening session of the clinic, it was never known what attendance might be. They were ok with this. They were just honored to be asked to participate.

After the Coaches Roundtable session, the Issues and Answers session was added. This was a time for the President to make announcements and The Executive Director, Associate Executive Director and Chief Operation Officer were available to answer any questions membership might have. Some years there were more questions than in other years and coaches’ attendance during the early part of the clinic was problematic.

Separate breakout speaking sessions for boys and girls coaches continued with everyone coming together in the auditorium mid Saturday morn. to hear a college coach speaker before resuming the breakout sessions until the end of the clinic.

(2018-2019) The LN school day had always driven the clinic schedule. Friday sessions were in the LN auditorium until school was out. Once school was out registration took place in the LN cafeteria. Food was available for the coaches in the commons area, and they could visit with vendors if they chose.

In 2018 the LN auditorium was being renovated and not available. LN moved all P.E. classes to the auxiliary gym, and this meant that all clinic sessions for Friday and Saturday could be held in the main gym and auxiliary gym on Saturday. All speakers could then utilize players for demo purposes which was helpful for the presenters and potentially more informative for the coaches than a presentation in the auditorium. Moving players around vs power point or overhead Xs & Os in the auditorium. This also made it possible to have registration as the coaches arrived for the day vs doing registration during the middle of the clinic. The clinic started Friday at 10am and the clinic ended earlier on Friday evening. The rest of the Friday clinic agenda and awards program was held in the main gym. Vendors were still in the commons area. The 2019 clinic followed the same format. Separate breakout speaking sessions for boys and girls coaches continued with everyone coming together mid Saturday morn. to hear a college coach speaker in the auditorium before resuming the breakout sessions until the end of the clinic.

(2020) The plan was to have all sessions in the main gym. Reduce the speaking times so boys and girls speaking sessions on Saturday were not breakout sessions. The vendors’ area was to be in the upper gym. As it turned out the clinic was cancelled because of the pandemic so the coach of the year presentations were virtual.

(2021) A virtual spring clinic was held and a fall Mini Clinic from 1pm-6pm on a Saturday in October. Three college speakers spoke at the mini clinic and the awards program was held to get caught up with the presentation of two years’ worth of awards.

(2022) The traditional Spring clinic was held in April modeling the 2020 clinic format.

(2023) was a year of change from the traditional IBCA Clinic. Because of issues at LN the clinic was held at Mt. Vernon in Fortville. In a change from Friday Saturday the clinic started Thursday evening at 6 pm and continued on Friday. There was a clinic Social hosted after the last speaker Thursday . The clinic speakers were all College Coaches, the IBCA Coaches of the Year videoed their presentations and they were posted on the IBCA web-site

(2024) Clinic was back at MT. Vernon with the same format. After taking input from the membership the 2024 clinic was shortened on Friday to end at 3 pm.

(2025)

IBCA Executive Directors