Don Gandy - Principal
Wheeler - District 1
Don Gandy is in his seventh year as principal at Wheeler High School, where he is guided by the motto of “Every Student … Every Day!”
In his current position, Gandy said he has the great opportunity to work with strong student-athlete advocates such as Randy Stelter (athletic director), Jack Schimanski (assistant principal) and all the coaches of Wheeler High School with the support of the superintendent and assistant superintendent.
Gandy has served as the chairman of the Greater South Shore Conference and has enjoyed the camaraderie with that group of athletic directors and principals. Gandy also has served for the past three years on the IASP Board of Directors and has chaired and co-chaired numerous NCA/AdvanceEd teams. He also currently is in his first year as an IHSAA board member.
Gandy said he has been blessed by the athletic and academic opportunities afforded to him as an athlete, a coach, teacher or administrator. He firmly believes that coaches and teachers give students great opportunities by providing quality programs through athletics. His hope is that Wheeler programs give to the students and athletes what was afforded to him by numerous coaches and teachers as an athlete, teacher, mentor and administrator.
He cites numerous people who have helped him in his career. They include Tommy Smith, Dan Wilson and Greg Perkins in Fort Wayne; Larry Pinkerton, Dick Tobias, Bill Nixon, Tom Condon, Bob Read, Tom Isenbarger, Jack Edison and John Barron at Plymouth; and Garry Nallenweg and Jim Goetz at Chesterton.
Gandy began his career in coaching as an assistant wrestling coach and freshman football coach in 1984 at Rensselaer Central High School. He moved to Fort Wayne Elmhurst from 1986-90 and served as math and computer program teacher as well as an assistant and head wrestling coach, football assistant coach and club soccer coach. From 1990-97, Gandy was a math teacher at Plymouth and was a football assistant coach, an assistant and head soccer coach and a middle school wrestling coach.
Gandy then moved into administration, serving as an assistant principal at Chesterton from 1997-2001 before returning to Plymouth as an assistant principal from 2001-2006. He became principal at Wheeler beginning in the fall of 2006.
A 1981 graduate of Northwest High School in Indianapolis and a 1985 graduate of Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Gandy competed in football, wrestling and baseball in high school as well as baseball in college. He received his master’s degree in education from Indiana University-South Bend in 1994 and his Educational Specialist degree from Indiana State in 2009.
Gandy and his wife, Marie, have a daughter, Christina. She attends Central Michigan University and is a member of the women’s soccer program there.
Wayne Barker - Superintendent
Bluffton-Harrison MSD - District 2
Wayne Barker is in his fourth year as superintendent of Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School District and is a passionate advocate for student participation in athletics and extra-curricular activities. In addition, he is a proud supporter of the men and women of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
Barker was a varsity basketball coach for 15 years where he compiled an overall record of 236-107. His teams won six conference tournament championships, five conference regular season championships, four sectional championships, one regional championship, one semi-state championship and had one undefeated regular season.
Barker was selected as the IBCA’s District 2 Coach of the Year in 2002 and served as an assistant coach on the 2004 Indiana All-Star Team. He served the IBCA for 12 years as a district representative, vice president, president and past president. He has enjoyed combining his love for God and basketball by working Athletes In Action Basketball Camps in Siauliai, Lithuania, and Skopje, Macedonia.
Barker began his career in education as a business teacher in 1989 at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne. He moved on to Cowan High School in that role in 1994 where he got his first boys basketball head coaching opportunity. In 1995, Barker became assistant principal and boys basketball coach at Bluffton High School, where he served for 14 years prior to being named superintendent in 2009.
Barker is recently widowed from his wife, Ingrid, of 25 years. He has two children, a daughter, Taylor (19), and a son, Collin (15).
Don Unruh - Athletic Director
New Albany - District 3
Don Unruh has served New Albany High School as Athletic Director (Assistant Principal for Athletics & Activities) for 14 years.
He is an active member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and was named IIAAA District 5 Athletic Administrator of the Year in 2007 and again in 2012. He has also been a member of the Indiana Department of Education’s IHSAA Case Review Panel.
While at New Albany, Unruh has overseen several athletic facility building projects, served as host for numerous IHSAA tournament events, chaired school improvement plan committees and served as New Albany High School Interim Principal for the 2009-10 school year.
He co-chaired the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation’s Joint Athletic Committee, which coordinated the athletic programs for 13 elementary and three middle schools.
Unruh also served New Albany High School as its varsity basketball coach. As head coach of the Bulldogs, he took his 1996 team to the State Finals, finishing as state runner-up, and his 1997 team advanced to the semistate final game. He is a former member of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
Prior to his 26-year tenure at New Albany, Unruh taught and coached at Springs Valley High School in French Lick, Ind., and served as varsity basketball coach at Hancock County High School in Kentucky.
Unruh and his wife, Denise, have been married for 30 years and have two adult daughters, Lindsay and Sarah.
