By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — Franklin Monroe will have a new head coach looking over the girls basketball program. Tim Irey is taking over the program after being approved by the board of education on June 5.

Irey said he got the news when he was traveling to Los Angeles to help move his daughter in. Getting the head coaching job made the week more eventful.

“We started driving on Sunday and stopped at seven national parks on the way out. So to get the news while on this trip made it an even more exciting week,” Irey said.

Irey has been around basketball for most of his life. During his senior year of high school at Troy, he became a student assistant. From there, he was an assistant at Edison Community College while attending school there. Irey said while at Edison, he also took an officiating basketball class. After college, he did a few years of coaching freshmen boys basketball at different schools and was a basketball official for 14 years.

Irey said he did take a break from coaching to start a family and started coaching again 10 years ago when his son wanted to play. Since then, he has been coaching for both boys and girls for Troy Jr. basketball and has been assisting various AAU teams. For the last three years, he has been with the Rangers out Miami County.

Irey said there is a lot to look forward to this upcoming season. He’s excited to help the junior high teams and be a part of the youth programs. He’s also looking forward to getting to work with the high school team.

“The enjoyment I get out of coaching is from watching the players grow and take what I teach them and use it either on the basketball court, in another sport or in life in general,” Irey said. “As of today, I am looking forward to starting open gyms and seeing what the girls can do. I want to help build on what skills they have and try to put them in situations to be successful.”

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]