Norwell’s Thornton named Coach of the Year by IBCA
INDIANAPOLIS – Three Indiana high school girls basketball coaches have been chosen as 2024 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was an… Three Indiana high school girls basketball coaches have been named 2024 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA). Eric Thornton from Norwell, Kaley May from Class 3A semi-state finalist Danville, and Angie Hinton from Class A two-time state champion Lanesville have been chosen for the 2023-24 season. The Coach of The Year award is named for the late Bob King, who coached at Sacred Heart and Shortridge high schools in Indianapolis before serving as an assistant basketball coach at Purdue University. Thornton has a career record of 452-192 in 27 seasons at Norwell. Kaley may has been named head coach of the 2024 Junior All-Stars.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in Sports
INDIANAPOLIS – Three Indiana high school girls basketball coaches have been chosen as 2024 Bob King Coaches of the Year by their peers in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced Thursday (March 28).
Eric Thornton of Class 3A state runner-up Norwell, Kaley May of Class 3A semi-state finalist Danville and Angie Hinton of Class A two-time state champion Lanesville have been selected as honorees for the 2023-24 season through voting that occurred from late January through late February, IBCA executive director Marty Johnson said.
Honors are awarded according to IHSAA district boundaries, and one coach from each district is a recipient – Thornton in District 1; May in District 2; and Hinton in District 3. These three coaches will receive plaques as an IBCA District Coach of the Year during the 2024 IBCA Clinic, which is set for April 25-26 at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville.
The Coach of the Year award is named for the late Bob King, the IBCA executive director from 1984-94. King was a Lebanon native who coached at Sacred Heart and Shortridge high schools in Indianapolis before serving as an assistant basketball coach at Purdue University. He later also was as an assistant athletic director and associate athletic director at Purdue.
A list of former IBCA/Bob King Coaches of the Year in girls’ basketball is below. The 2024 IBCA/Bob King Coaches of the Year for boys’ basketball will be announced later.
Here is information about the 2024 IBCA/Bob King girls’ Coach of the Year honorees.
Eric Thornton is the IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year after guiding Norwell to a 23-5 season that included a Class 3A state runner-up finish. Earlier, his Knights had captured championships of the Northeast 8 Conference, Maconaquah Sectional, Caston Regional and Huntington North Semi-State.
Thornton has a career record of 452-192 in 27 seasons at Norwell. His tenure with the Knights includes 12 sectionals titles (2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024); three regional trophies (2014, 2021 and 2024) and the one semi-state crown (2024).
He was head coach of the 2014 Indiana All-Stars and the 2012 Junior All-Stars. His 2011-12 and 2020-21 teams played in the Hall of Fame Classic, and he mentored 2012 Miss Basketball Jessica Rupright. He previously was an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 2012.
A 1987 graduate of Churubusco High School, Thornton competed in basketball and golf. He went on to Ball State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business education in 1992. He later earned a master’s degree in secondary education from Indiana University in 2009.
Thornton was a boys’ basketball volunteer assistant for Al Rhodes and Doug Ogle at Warsaw in 1991-92, a State Finalist team. Thornton then was a girls’ assistant for Dave Cox at Plymouth for five seasons, also picking up insight from Pilgrims’ boys coach Jack Edison during that time. Thornton took over the Norwell girls program starting in the 1997-98 season.
He has served as a business teacher at Norwell for 27 years, and he currently teaches classes in personal finance, business management, management fundamentals, accounting and entrepreneurship.
Thornton and his wife, Kelley, are parents to four children – Ryne, 17; Cade, 15; Avery and Maddux, both 13.
Kaley May is the IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year after leading Danville to a 24-4 season that included a runner-up finish in the Class 3A semi-state at Jasper. Earlier, the Warriors had claimed Sagamore Conference, Cascade Sectional and Southmont Regional championships.
In 11 seasons with the Warriors, May has compiled a 210-79 record. Her tenure has included six sectional titles (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2024) and three regional crowns (2017, 2018 and 2024). In addition, her teams have captured six Sagamore Conference titles (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024) during her time on the sidelines.
May has been named head coach of the 2024 girls’ Junior All-Stars.
May is a 2008 graduate of Avon High School, where she was named an Indiana All-Star, a McDonald’s All-American nominee and an IBCA first-team Academic All-State player while averaging 14.0 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior. She also competed in volleyball and track & field in high school.
She then went to Butler University, playing four seasons of basketball with the Bulldogs, earning a spot on Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and being on teams that made three appearances in the Women’s NIT.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2012.
May started her coaching career in 2012-13 as an assistant coach at Southport. She became the head coach at Danville in 2013-14 and has guided the Warriors ever since. She also has been active within the IBCA. She served as a district representative from 2018-23, and she currently is the organization’s president-elect.
Angie Hinton is the IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year after directing Lanesville to a 29-1 campaign that included a 51-43 victory over Marquette Catholic for a second consecutive Class A state championship. During the season, the Eagles also won the Southridge Invitational, Southern Athletic Conference, the West Washington Sectional, Crawford County Regional and New Albany Semi-State.
Hinton has posted a 145-20 record in six seasons at Lanesville with six sectional titles as well as regional, semi-state and state crowns in 2023 and 2024. She has a career mark of 326-95 in 18 seasons as a head coach.
Her career ledger includes an 8-2 mark in 1987-88 at Louisville Shawnee plus a 173-73 mark from 1990 to 2001 at New Albany. Her time at New Albany included sectional titles in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, regional crowns in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000 plus semi-state, Class 4A state and Tournament of Champion trophies in 1999.
She has been named an assistant coach for the 2024 girls’ Junior All-Stars. She previously was an assistant coach on the 1998 Indiana All-Stars. She also was a coach in the HBCA East-West All-Star Game in 1997, an HBCA District 4 Coach of the Year in 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000, an ICGSA District 5 Coach of the Year in 1997 and the ICGSA State Coach of the Year in 1999.
A 1982 graduate of North Harrison, the former Angie Richards earned four letters each in basketball, volleyball and track & field. She matriculated to IU-Southeast, earning a degree in education in 1986.
Hinton served as the Floyd Central seventh-grade coach in 1986-87, the interim varsity girls’ coach in 1987-88 at Louisville Shawnee and an eighth-grade coach at Scribner Middle School in New Albany from 1988-90.
She then coached the New Albany varsity from 1990-2001, a tenure highlighted by the 1999 undefeated Class 4A state champion at 28-0. Hinton also served seventh-grade boys basketball coach at Scribner Middle School in 2004-05, a girls’ assistant coach at Charlestown in 2005-06 and a North Harrison fifth-grade boys’ assistant to her son Joseph in 2006-07. She then was a girls’ assistant at North Harrison from 2014-18, helping coach daughter Hallie as they were Class 3A state runners-up in 2016 and 2017, before taking over at the Lanesville program in 2018.
Hinton is in her 37th year as a math teacher, one year at Shawnee, 26 years at Scribner Middle School and now in her 10th year at North Harrison.
Hinton and her husband, Joe, a former Floyd Central boys’ coach and Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee – are parents to two adult children – Joseph, the current boys’ varsity coach at Corydon Central, and Hallie, the current Lanesville girls’ JV coach.
The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association has presented Coach of the Year Awards since 1972. These awards are named for Bob King, a former executive director of the organization who also spent years on the Purdue University men’s basketball coaching staff and later served as an assistant athletic director at Purdue. He played and then coached basketball and football for 13 years at Indianapolis Shortridge and is a graduate of Butler University. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986. Honorees were selected one per district in five districts from 1972 through 2003, two per district in three districts from 2004-2022, and one per district in three districts starting in 2023. The boys’ awards started in the 1971-72 season. The girls’ awards started in the 1983-84 season.