Varsity Head Coach:  Dan Huizenga. In starting my second season at Knox we are looking for great improvement.  While our record last season was not what we had hoped for, we are greatly looking foreward to this season.  Prior to comming here last year, I had spent the past six seasons as the Varsity Girls’ coach at South Central High School, having attained an 81-54 record.  We advanced to the Semi-State in 2005, falling to the two-time defending state champion Tri-Central, by the score of 52-50.  We spent much of the 2005-06 season ranked #1 and finished the year ranked #2 in the state.  The four years prior to that, I served as the Junior Varsity Coach at John Glenn High School.

In addition to accepting the coaching position this season, I am also teaching business classes. 

Varsity Assistant:  Cameron Gilbert.  Coach Gilbert has been involved in basketball at multiple levels and for many years. From founding the Starke County Youth Basketball Program to coaching youth teams in Louisiana and Indiana, he has been active in the basketball community for years. He has conducted numerous skill clinics and has coached travel basketball teams for the past four years.

Coach Gilbert has coached girls basketball for a total of six years including coaching in the Knox Community Schools program for the past four years. Since joining the Knox program, he has coached Knox middle school and junior varsity teams. During that time period, his teams have won approximately 77% of their games and three Northern State Conference championships. Most recently, Coach Gilbert’s 2007-08 junior varsity team won the Northern State Conference with a record of 13-4 including a conference record of 6-1. Additionally, Coach Gilbert was the assistant varsity head coach for the 2007-08 Lady Redskins and served as the team’s head coach for the 2008 summer season.

Coach Gilbert is married and has two children. His wife, Julie Gilbert, teaches second grade for the Knox Elementary School and both children attend Knox Community Schools. He and his family have resided in Knox for the past seven years. Coach Gilbert has a Ph.D. in psychology and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in geropsycholgy in Houston, Texas. He is the President and CEO of Physicians Hospital System which owns and operates multiple facilities in northern Indiana.

Junior Varsity Coach:  Brian Earnest.    Brian, a 30-year-old graduate of Oregon-Davis High School and Indiana University, is a life-long resident of Hamlet.  He resides there with his wife, Kassandra, and their daughter Alexus.  He is employed by Hamlet Golf Course as the Course Manager.

Brian has spent the last 11 years coaching both girls and boys basketball.  He began his coaching career at Oregon-Davis, where he coached both Girls’ and Boys’ Junior High for three seasons.  He spent the next seven seasons at Westville High School where he coached Boys’ Junior High for six seasons, Girls’ Junior High for two seasons, Freshmen boys for 5 seasons, and was the Boys’ Varsity Assistant for 5 seasons.