Photographer / Kerch Creative
Growing up, Garrett Winegar gained a lot of real-world experience from participating in school sports like basketball.
“Basketball especially was what I did growing up, but I played a lot of sports,” he says. “I think you learn a lot of life lessons playing sports growing up, and that was definitely the case for me.”
As the new varsity boys basketball coach at Fishers High School, Garrett Winegar will look to impact the lives of student-athletes in the same way many coaches impacted him. Formerly the head varsity basketball coach at Warren Central High School, Winegar will aim to improve on the Tigers’ 18-7 record from last season.
Like many Hoosiers, Winegar says basketball played a major role in his upbringing.
“I have a lot of family down in the Bloomington area,” he says. “I grew up a big IU fan, and that was just what we did growing up was play basketball.”
While attending IU in pursuit of a sports communications degree, Winegar decided to give coaching a try, first at Jackson Creek Middle School and then Bloomington High School South.
“It was about two weeks into that [first] season, when games hadn’t even started yet, and I remember calling my dad and telling him, ‘I think this is what I want to do,’” Winegar says.
After learning under legendary Indiana basketball coach J.R. Holmes at Bloomington South, Winegar moved on to Warren Central High School to work as an assistant under Criss Beyers for three years before serving as the Warriors’ head coach for the 2019-2020 school year.
During his three years under Beyers, Warren Central went 76-6 with one state championship. With Winegar as head coach, the program performed well too.
“We were able to go 18-6, and we were about 20 seconds away from winning the sectional,” Winegar says of his time as Warren Central’s head coach. “We just didn’t have a couple things go our way, and we ended up losing to Lawrence North in the sectional final.”
Having lived in Fishers with his wife in recent years, Winegar saw the opening at Fishers High School as a great next step in his career.
“We just love it here – we love everything that it provides,” Winegar says of Fishers. “We love the school system. We just had our first child in April, so I’ve got a little baby boy who will grow up here. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
In terms of his approach to the game of basketball, Winegar focuses specifically on defense and pace.
“At the high school level, if you can be great defensively, then you’re going to have the opportunity to win a lot of games,” he says. “We also want to be able to play fast, and I think that plays into our defensive system.”
All in all, Winegar looks to take Tigers varsity basketball to new heights.
“Our goals are certainly to be that first group of Fishers High School students to win Sectional 8 and to make a run at the state championship,” he says. “That’s our goal, and we’re going to make that clear from day one.”
To keep up with Fishers High School athletics, be sure to visit FishersTigersAthletics.com.
