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SOUTH WHITLEY - Now coached by a middle school science teacher, if history is on Whitko High School's side, its varsity boys basketball team is staring down a successful 2004-2005 season.
Departed from the Wildcat program is Don Zawlocki, who still teaches math at Whitko but resigned his position as head coach after an 8-13 season in which Whitko went 3-4 in the Three Rivers Conference.
The Wildcats lost the first four games of the season and then lost eight of their final nine contests, including a two-point loss to rival Tippecanoe Valley in the opening round of the sectional.
Taking over for Zawlocki is Larry Lael, who hasn't coached varsity boys basketball in six years but had a good amount of success the 10 years that he did coach.
In his first year at Bremen, the Lions won the Plymouth Sectional championship. In his first season at Fairfield, the Falcons won the Goshen Sectional championship.
At Fairfield, Lael's ball club won 37 ball games in a two-year span and led the state in defense, allowing the fewest number of points per game.
To accomplish this at Whitko, Lael's new players will have to completely buy into his system, which is centered around strong man-to-man defense.
"We're going to play strong man-to-man defense," said Lael, who has also coached at Norwell and Culver. "In 1994-95 when I was at Fairfield, we led the state in defense. The foundation to a good team is strong man-to-man defense."
Before Whitko can make a strong push for a sectional championship or anything else the Wildcats might have as a goal, they must first buy into Lael's system and mature at the varsity level.
Only three of the 11 rostered players have previous varsity experience, and combined, those three players only averaged 12 points per game last season.
"The first thing I'm going to do is try to get them ready to play Columbia City," said Lael, whose Wildcats open the season tonight at rival Columbia City, last year's Class 4A state runner-up. "My first goal is to get them ready to go play, and then try to instill what I think is important. We're pretty inexperienced."
Whitko's three experienced players are 6-foot-4 senior Dan Rupley (6 ppg, 5 rpg), 5-9 junior Brad Smith (4 ppg) and 6-1 senior Corey Spangle (2 ppg).
Also on Whitko's varsity roster this year are freshman Trent Rowland, sophomore Patrick Carroll, juniors Camron Walter, Justin Kurtz and Jeff Coats and seniors Erich Schlicht, Jason Woods and Nate Alspaugh.
Lael, who in 10 years of coaching has won two sectional titles, four conference championships and coached the sectional runner-up four times, hasn't coached in six years.
He says he missed being around the kids and is excited about getting back into coaching.
"I missed being around the kids," said Lael. "Of all things, this is what I feel I do best. I really missed the relationships with the kids."
Whitko opens the season tonight at Columbia City, and then returns home Saturday against Homestead, followed by home games with Norwell Dec. 3 and Central Noble Dec. 7.
While the Wildcats are inexperienced, Lael said he thinks his team could have a size advantage on some teams.
Whitko has just two players on its 11-man roster listed smaller than 6-1. Coats is listed at 6-5, while Rupley and Alspaugh are listed at 6-4.
"I like the kids that we have," said Lael. "We have some size. Size could be a strength of ours."
If anything, the Wildcats are trying to get a once strong Whitko program to stand tall again.
