LaVille Hires Valley Assistant As Basketball Coach

LAKEVILLE - LaVille High School this week named Eric Thompson as its varsity boys basketball coach.

Thompson was Tippecanoe Valley's junior varsity boys basketball coach the last three years. Valley's junior varsity teams posted records of 6-14, 4-16 and 13-7 under Thompson. Before serving as Valley's junior varsity coach, Thompson previously coached the seventh-grade boys basketball team at LaVille and coached Carroll's seventh-grade boys basketball team. He served as a varsity volunteer assistant at both schools.

"Hopefully we will have kids who will work hard," Thompson said. "LaVille has been down for a while. We want to change attitudes into positive ones. I plan to hit the feeder system hard and get the little ones and parents interested."

Thompson was one of more than 30 applicants for the LaVille opening. He returns to the school he taught at in 1997. Thompson will teach remediation/junior high english.

"He learned under a good coach in (Tippecanoe Valley varsity boys basketball) coach Bill Patrick," Laville athletic director John Willoughby said. "He showed he had a good knowledge of the game. The people I talked to spoke highly of him.

"He was here previously for a year, and he had a good rapport with the kids."

Thompson replaces Doug Reid as coach. LaVille is a Class 2A school with approximately 400 students.