Greenwood girls - Departing Coach Justin Bennett
GREENWOOD, Ind. -- (Updated 4/10) Coach Bennett has announced his resignation after five seasons with the Woodies. He is reportedly heading to Tri-West. Last season GWood was 8-15. Greenwood has been an afterthought in Sectional play. Currently their enrollment is about 1200, and few would benefit as much from the proposed Sectional realignment as much as Greenwood. Since class basketball, the Woodmen have been in tournament play with schools twice their enrollment, and it has not gone well. Traditionally Greenwood has historically struggled in tournament play. The 4A Woodies have only won one Sectional title ever (2012.) The other issue that keeps growing worse is Greenwood’s longstanding membership in the Mid-State Conference. As time has passed, GW finds itself a distant last in enrollment among member schools. This only grows worse for landlocked Gwood every decade that goes by. Most want to see the Mid-State rivalries continue, but it is arguably simply not sustainable forever. Looking at the roster, Varsity Club report shows that six seniors graduate from last year’s 8-win season. About 12ppg is expected back, but trouble comes as that is evenly spread over 8 different players. This was a roster already having trouble scoring points, and that only gets tougher next season. Another area of struggle last season was ball handling, and what little GW had graduates as well. Varsity Club report points out this ominous note. Woodmen return as many turnovers a game as they do points, 12. JV is decent and will be required to help flesh out next season’s varsity roster. One aspect that does make Greenwood appealing is that is stability where coaching is concerned. It is a rare occurrence indeed that a Gwood coach is fired strictly on W/L's. One name already getting mentioned is Gwood JV Coach Zach Machie. One report backs this up by pointing out that the GW teacher is already going to be running basketball camp next week.
