Congratulations to these Administrators of the Year:
Debb Stevens - Athletic Director
District 1 - Caston
Debb Stevens has been in education for 39 years, serving as athletic director at Caston High School since 1991.
Stevens coached basketball for 20 seasons with her teams claiming five sectional championships and having just one losing season. She also coached volleyball and track & field at various points.
She has served on the IHSAA Board of Directors for 10 years and previously served on the board of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and on the Indiana Department of Education’s Case Review Panel.
“Sports and student athletes have been my life, and I'm very passionate about and try to give the students at Caston as many positive experiences in sports as possible,” Stevens says.
The long-time administrator has received several professional awards. Among them are the Indiana Wrestling Coaches Association Administrator of the Year in 2015, Junior High Athletic Director of the Year from the IIAAA and the NFHS Merit Award for Indiana.
Stevens is a 1972 graduate of Pioneer High School. She went on to Indiana State, where she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. At ISU, she played three sports. One of those was softball, which she helped advance to the Women’s College World Series on two occasions. She also was chosen the Sycamores’ softball MVP in 1976.
Troy Inman - Principal
District 2 - Pike
Troy Inman has been in education for 24 years, including the past seven as principal at Pike High School in Indianapolis.
A former standout basketball player at Avon High School and Eastern New Mexico University, Inman has worked as a teacher (science, health and physical education), a dean of students, an assistant principal, a middle school principal and a high school principal. He also was a boys’ basketball assistant coach at Pike from 1995-2001, working on the staff for Alan Darner that guided the Red Devils to the 1998 Class 4A state championship with a 30-1 record.
A 1986 graduate of Avon, Inman attended Eastern New Mexico University on a basketball scholarship and earned all-Lone Star Conference and all-New Mexico honors In 1988. He graduated ENMU in 1991, earned his master’s degree from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2002 and his administrative license from Indiana University in 2003.
Inman began his career in education as a counselor for entering high school students at ENMU in 1991. He was a teacher and athletic director at House (N.M.) High School from 1993-95, then moved to Pike Township as a middle school teacher at New Augusta North Academy in 1995-96. From 1996-2000, Inman was a physical education teacher at Pike, then became the Dean of Students at Pike from 2000-04. He served as a Pike assistant principal from 2004-07, then was principal at New Augusta North Academy in 2007-08 before becoming principal at Pike in the fall of 2008.
As principal at Pike, he has seen the school’s graduation rate improve from 76 percent to 92 percent. Over the past three years, Pike has been recognized as a national top high school by the Washington Post and Newsweek.
Inman has been recognized with the Marion County Principal of the Year Award in 2010 and the Pike Township Above and Beyond Award in 2011. He was president of the Marion County Principals Association in 2011 and has been a presenter at numerous conferences.
Inman and his wife, Maravene, are parents to four children – Chandler (18), Connor (17), Maya (15) and Macy (8).
Dave Worland - Principal
District 2 - Cathedral
Dave Worland is completing his 13th year as principal of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, where he is a strong supporter of athletics and serves on the IHSAA Board of Directors.
A three-sport athlete in high school, Worland attended Lafayette Central Catholic and competed in basketball, baseball and cross country before graduating in 1973. Worland earned his bachelor’s degree from Purdue in 1977 and later earned master’s degrees from both Purdue and the University of Dayton.
Worland began his varsity coaching at Washington Catholic, directing the Cardinals to a 59-31 record over four seasons with a sectional title in 1985. He moved to South Dearborn, guiding the Knights to a 28-19 mark in two seasons with a sectional crown in 1986. Worland then returned to Lafayette Central Catholic, where he coached the Knights to a 110-63 slate in eight seasons. In 14 seasons overall, Worland’s career mark was 197-113.
As a coach, Worland was named Washington Area Coach of the Year in 1983 and the IBCA District 5 Coach of the Year in 1984. He also was inducted into the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association’s “Hall of Excellence” in 2014.
At Lafayette Central Catholic, Worland coached three sports and served as its athletic director and assistant principal. He became the school’s principal 1990 and served in that role for 12 years. He became principal at Cathedral in 2002 and has guided the Indianapolis private Catholic school for more than a decade. The school was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School in 2004.
Worland received a Distinguished Principal Award from the National Catholic Educational Association in 1994. He also was honored as a “Knight to Remember” by Lafayette Central Catholic in 2015.
He began his service on the IHSAA board following his election in 2013. He currently is in his second year of a three-year term.
Worland and his wife, Janet, have three adult children – Lance (28), Courtney (27) and Sean (23).
Brett Bardwell - Athletic Director
District 3 - Southridge
Brett Bardwell has been involved in interscholastic athletics for 32 years, including the past 16 years as athletic director at Southridge High School in Huntingburg, Ind.
A 1979 graduate of Southridge, Bardwell is a 1982 graduate of Hanover College, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback, and earned a master’s degree in 1984 from DePauw University. He served as a graduate assistant football coach for two years at DePauw and was a football g.a. for two more years at Indiana University before moving to the high school ranks.
Bardwell was a teacher and coach (basketball and football) at Franklin Community High School for 12 years. During his tenure there, he received the Seniors Choice Award as the school’s outstanding teacher on 10 occasions.
In 1999, Bardwell returned to his alma mater as a teacher and athletic director. He teaches two classes – psychology and sociology – and oversees the Raiders’ athletic programs.
During his tenure, Southridge has received the IHSAA Sportsmanship Award five times, the SWIOA Hospitality Award nine times and formed committees that have upgraded the basketball and football facilities at the school – Friends of Memorial Gym and Friends of Raider Field. In addition, the school has added a new softball field, a new cross country course, a new track, new tennis courts, a new wrestling room, a new indoor baseball facility and a new fieldhouse with an indoor track and weight room.
Southridge also annually hosts multiple IHSAA events. These include wrestling sectionals; boys basketball sectionals and regionals and semistates; baseball sectionals, regionals, and semistates; and track sectionals. The school also will host a softball sectional this year for the first time.
Bardwell also has served as the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsor for three years and the intramural basketball director for 15 years.
He is a member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the Huntingburg Optimist Club and First Baptist Church. In his free time, Bardwell enjoys time with his family as well as fly fishing and watching college football.
Bardwell and his wife Sarah, principal at Holland Elementary School, have two daughters – Ellie (8) and Laney (6).
Jeff Hester - Athletic Director
District 3 - Columbus North
Jeff Hester is completing his seventh year as athletic director at Columbus North, guiding the Bull Dogs program to success in many sports. During his tenure, CNHS has captured state championships in boys’ cross country, girls’ cross country, boys’ soccer, boys’ golf and, most recently, girls’ basketball.
Hester has been strong in his support of basketball at Columbus North, helping to bring updated lighting, sound system, scoreboards and locker rooms to Memorial Gym. This spring, the facility is going through a renovation where the original floor and lower-level bleachers from 1954 are being replaced.
Hester also has brought several basketball special events to Columbus, including an Indiana All-Star junior-senior exhibition, a Harlem Globetrotters game and the “I’m Possible” Basketball Camp operated by Micah Lancaster.
A native of Elwood, Ind., Hester participated in athletics at Elwood High School and graduated in 1992. He competed in tennis for one year each at Judson University and Grace College before moving to Indiana University and graduating in 1996. Hester received a master’s degree from the University of Akron in 1999.
He began work at the high school level at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis, serving there from 1999-2008. He coached middle school boys basketball and girls basketball, high school boys tennis and girls tennis, JV girls basketball and varsity assistant boys basketball while at the school.
Hester moved into administration at HCS in 2003, first working as the school’s assistant athletic director from 2003-05. He was the school’s athletic director from 2005-08 before moving to Columbus North as athletic director in the fall of 2008. He became a Certified Athletic Administrator in 2009.
Hester and his wife, Jennifer, are parents to five children – Bailey, Isaiah, Sydney, Brennan and Madison.
