Wawasee Basketball: Everingham Tabbed As New Boys Coach
SYRACUSE — Wawasee got its man.
After nearly hiring him three years ago, Wawasee has named Jon Everingham its new boys head basketball coach. After a second round of interviews Tuesday evening, Everingham was informed of the school’s decision around 5 p.m. and the move was approved at the monthly board meeting by 5:30 p.m.
“We were close to hiring Jon the last time this position was open and are very happy we could finally make it happen this time,” offered Wawasee AD Steve Wiktorowski in his release to local media. “He has varsity experience rebuilding two different programs and we were again impressed with the overall system that he wants to incorporate.
“He is known as a teacher of fundamentals and is well thought out on both ends of the floor. He relates well to players and will be a strong addition to our teaching staff as well. He already has roots in the community and we look forward to Jon having a long and successful tenure as our next head coach.”
Everingham brings with him a 93-87 career record, building that win total with stints at Argos (2006-08) and DeKalb (2008-14). After resigning at DeKalb, where he compiled a 67-72 mark, Everingham thought he was done with coaching but stayed close to education with a position at the Impact Institute, a career vocational center in Kendallville. Upon moving to Syracuse last July, Everingham kept a close tie with coaching as he took over the Junior Warrior youth basketball program.
“After leaving DeKalb I thought I had laid rest to ‘Coach Everingham.’ I really had no intent to coach again,” Everginham said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “I was very happy with my job at the Impact Institute. Things really started to change for me last year while I was running the youth program for Wawasee and calling games on the radio. It really got me thinking about returning to coaching, if the right situation ever came along.”
Turns out that situation was just waiting to present itself.
“It was really a perfect storm,” the coach said. “We moved here last July and now the coaching job and a teaching position opened up. It’s the right fit at the right time. Too many things happened to all be coincidence. That’s why I’m a man of faith and trust in God and His plan.”
Everingham has a nice advantage to his new job as he learned many of the faces this past season being the play-by-play guy for Wawasee basketball on Willie 103.5.
“It makes for a nice transition,” Everingham stated. “I got to watch the kids last year and see what kind of skills they have, I got to see what type of kids they are. They’re high-integrity kids with good families. There’s so much more that will go into getting to know them before the start of next season.”
Everingham, a 1994 graduate of Goshen High School, started his coaching career as an assistant for his alma mater. He spent time on both the boys and girls staffs at Goshen. Everingham also spent time as an assistant at Grace College and Trine University as well as a stint as freshman head coach at Prairie Heights, where he worked under Wiktorowski.
With all of that experience, Everingham knows its important to have a good staff around you and he is already working hard on finding a supporting cast, “I have an idea in mind of what I want to do. It’s all about who wants to be involved with developing and bettering our players. It’s all about the kids. I was very impressed with last year’s staff and I’ll hopefully be speaking with those guys in the coming days.”
By accepting the varsity job, he will leave a position open atop the Junior Warrior program, but finding someone to take that over is a top priority for the coach.
“Having that youth program is a crucial part of sustaining success,” Everingham stated. “The Junior Warrior program will be there, running that will be a very important job. We have to have that foundation. We had 72 players last season and hope to double that number this coming year.”
Everingham takes over a Wawasee team that went 2-21 last season and has lost 35-consecutive games in the Northern Lakes Conference.
“I’m probably different with my approach than most people,” Everingham said when asked about the losing skid. “I’m not focused on winning one NLC game, I’m focused on winning an NLC title. Thinking and talking about those goals will come naturally and help to develop our culture next year.”
Everingham lives in Syracuse with his wife, Carly, and their four children, Maddux (10), Myles (10), Davis (8) and Payton (5). Carly and Jon met while both on staff for Goshen. Carly is currently a teacher and basketball coach at Wawasee Middle School and all the kids know how to dribble and could probably shoot a left-handed layup.
“What really made this an easy decision was the support of my family,” Everingham remarked. “Everyone was on board for this. Carly coaches seventh grade right now, our kids are all playing, it’s in our blood. We’re a basketball family.”