Congratulations to the 2019-2020 Bob King Award winners as Girls' Coaches of the Year.
District 1
Brandon Appleton, Angola
Brandon Appleton is an IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year after leading Angola to a 21-3 season that included a perfect 10-0 slate in the Northeast Corner Conference.
In six seasons with the Hornets, Appleton’s teams have compiled a 111-40 record and captured a sectional title in 2019 – just the second sectional crown in program history.
Appleton is a 2001 graduate of Peru High School, where he was named all-area as a junior, all-conference as a senior and set basketball school records for assists in a game (19), season (230) and career (421). He also played football for the Tigers.
He matriculated to Tri-State University (now Trine University), playing four seasons of basketball, two seasons of football and one season of tennis for the Thunder. He received bachelor’s degree in health promotions in 2006 and later earned a master’s degree in elementary education from Marian University in 2011.
Appleton began his coaching career as a boys’ basketball volunteer assistant at Scecina in 2009-10 and followed by serving as the boys’ JV coach at Scecina from 2010-12. He then became a boys’ assistant at Angola in 2013-14 before being named the Angola girls’ varsity coach in time for the 2014-15 season. His Hornets have produced six consecutive winning campaigns, including 23-4 in 2017-18 and 21-7 in 2018-19.
Appleton teaches physical education at Angola Middle School.
He and his wife, Sarah, are parents to two boys – Cain, 7, and Bryce, 5.
Adam Yoder, NorthWood
Adam Yoder is an IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year after leading NorthWood to a 28-3 season that included the Class 3A state championship. Earlier, the Black Swish won the Northridge Bankers’ Classic, the Northern Lakes Conference, the Lakeland Sectional, the Jimtown Regional and the LaPorte Semi-State.
In six seasons as NorthWood’s varsity coach, Yoder’s teams have compiled a 108-48 record with two NLC championships and two NLC Coach of the Year awards. He previously was a NorthWood girls’ basketball assistant for six years prior to being named the program’s head coach.
Yoder is a 1998 graduate of Bremen High School, where he competed in football, basketball and golf. He was a member of Bremen’s football Class 2A state champions in 1994 and the school’s football Class 2A state runner-up squad in 1995.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from IU-South Bend in 2003 and a master’s degree in education from Olivet Nazarene in 2008. He has been a teacher for Wa-Nee Community Schools for 16 years, leading classes in U.S. history and American Government.
Yoder began his basketball coaching career in 1999 at Bremen as a boys’ freshman coach and boys’ JV/varsity assistant. He also was an assistant football coach at Bremen from 1999-2003 and at NorthWood from 2004-06, being a part of the staff for NorthWood’s 2005 Class 3A state champions.
In addition, he has served as NorthWood’s girls’ golf coach from 2018 to present, the school’s boys’ track coach from 2005-2009 and the school’s girls’ track coach from 2010-2012.
Yoder is the nephew of Steve Yoder, a former men’s basketball head coach at Ball State and Wisconsin.
He and his wife, Whitney, are the parents of two children – Thayne, 9, and Maddie, 7.
District 2
Kathie Layden, Northwestern
Kathie Layden is an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year after leading Northwestern to a 29-1 season that included a state runner-up finish in Class 4A. Earlier, Layden’s Tigers claimed championships in the Subway/Columbus North Invitational, the Hoosier Conference, the Logansport Sectional, the Marion Regional and the LaPorte Semi-State.
In eight seasons at Northwestern, Layden has compiled a 154-49 record with four sectional titles, three regional crowns, three semi-state trophies and Class 3A state championships in 2018 and 2019. In 20 seasons as a girls’ varsity coach, Layden has a 336-149 record with titles in eight sectionals, six regionals, six semi-states and five state games.
Layden is a 1994 graduate of Taylor High School, where she competed in four years each in basketball, volleyball and tennis. She was a scholarship four-year basketball player and one-year tennis athlete for the University of Evansville, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1998.
Layden began her coaching career as an assistant for one season at Tri-Central. She then became the Trojans’ varsity coach and guided the squad to a 171-90 record over 11 seasons, including Class A state crowns in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She directed Western to an 11-10 mark in 2010-11, then took over at Northwestern beginning in the 2012-13 season. She previously was an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 2017. She served on the IBCA Board of Directors in 2007-08 and has been an IBCA assistant director since 2009.
Layden is in her eighth year as a health and physical education teacher at Northwestern Middle School.
She and her husband, Jeff, also a former UE basketball player, are the parents of two daughters – Madison, 18, and McKenna, 15.
Lauren Votaw, Fishers
Lauren Votaw is an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year after leading Fishers to a 23-2 season that included championships in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference and the Westfield Sectional.
Votaw is 51-24 in three seasons as a varsity coach with her Tigers improving each season. Her squad went 13-12 in 2017-18 and followed with a 15-10 effort in 2018-19. They then produced a fabulous season in 2019-2020, dropping just one regular-season contest and falling to eventual Class 4A state runner-up Northwestern in the regional.
Votaw is a 2004 graduate of Greenfield-Central, where she earned 11 letters as a high school athlete – four in basketball, four in volleyball, two in softball and one in track. She went on to play four years of basketball at Anderson University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 2008. She later received a master’s degree from Ball State in 2013.
Votaw began her coaching career as the Noblesville JV coach in 2008-09. She moved to Fishers and was the Tigers’ JV coach from 2009-14, then the varsity assistant from 2014-17. She became the Fishers varsity coach in the fall of 2017.
Votaw teaches classes in advanced physical conditioning, sports medicine and nutrition and wellness at Fishers. She and her husband, Jeremy, were married in 2019.
District 3
Jerry Hickey, Salem
Jerry Hickey is an IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year after leading Salem to a 25-4 season that included championships of the Mid-Southern Conference, Charlestown Sectional, Charlestown Regional and Jeffersonville Semi-State en route to a Class 3A state runner-up finish.
In seven seasons with the Lions, he has guided the team to a 117-62 record with two conference championships, four sectional titles, two regional crowns and one semi-state trophy. Salem also competed in the 2019 Raymond James Hall of Fame Classic. In eight seasons as a girls’ varsity coach, he is 136-67.
Hickey is a 1993 graduate of Brashear High School in Missouri, where he competed for four years each in basketball, baseball and track & field.
Hickey is a 2001 graduate of Indiana University, where he majored in secondary education with a coaching endorsement. He began his teaching career at Brown County High School, where he taught social studies and was the varsity baseball coach and a boys’ JV/varsity assistant basketball coach.
He completed his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2008 from the University of Cincinnati and moved later that year to Beaufort High School in South Carolina. He switched to coaching girls’ basketball while at Beaufort, guiding the Eagles to a 19-5 record in the 2008-09 season. He returned to Salem as a boys’ assistant in 2009-10 and again in 2012-13 before taking over the Salem girls’ program in the 2013-14 season.
Hickey, who is principal of Bradie Shrum Elementary School, lives in Salem with his wife, Carol. The couple has two daughters – Kendall, 14, and Audrey, 11.
Brian Smith, Loogootee
Brian Smith is an IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year after leading Loogootee to a 27-2 season that included the Class A state championship. Along the way, his Lions also claimed crowns in the Blue Chip Conference, the North Daviess Sectional, the West Washington Regional and the Jasper Semi-State.
In five seasons with the Loogootee girls, Smith’s teams have compiled a 90-32 record.
Smith is a 1991 graduate of White River Valley High School, where he competed in basketball and cross country. He went on to Indiana State, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1997.
Smith began his coaching career in 1999 at his alma mater, where he served as a basketball assistant coach for seven seasons. He was named the boys’ varsity coach at Shoals in 2007, where he assumed a rebuilding program and guided the Jug Rox to a 36-90 slate over six seasons. He became the Loogootee girls’ coach in 2015, and the Lions posted marks of 10-13, 13-10, 19-3 and 21-4 in preparing for the 2019-2020 season.
Smith has been a health and physical education teacher at Shoals Junior-Senior High for 21 years.
He and his wife, DeAnna, are parents of two sons – Nick, 19, and Jacob, 16.
