Former Bob Knight Assistant Coach Now Leads Lady Wildcats

Let’s Hear It for the Girls!

The long-established boys basketball program at LN is accustomed to a high level of attention and hype. Now, LN has another basketball team to cheer about: The girls! The Lady Wildcats won the division title this season (7-0 in conference play) as well as the Marion County Championship. It is the first time in school history that both those titles were celebrated in the same season.

Although this is his first year as the head coach of the Lady Wildcats, Christopher Giffin has been with the LN boys basketball program with Coach Jack Keefer for the last nine years. Giffin grew up on the west side of town and graduated from Ben Davis High School. Before coming to LN, Giffin was a student-manager at Indiana University under Coach Bobby Knight. Giffin then followed Knight to Texas Tech where he served on the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. “It was an awesome experience to learn under such an amazing coach,” said Giffin of Knight.

“I have always had a great passion and love for the game itself and, specifically, teaching it and watching and helping young men and women develop. I am competitive and thus enjoy the yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily challenges that putting teams together requires,” says Giffin.

Giffin’s coaching staff shares his passion for the game. His coaches are a diverse group with experiences playing and coaching at the high school, collegiate, and semi-professional levels.

Giffin began his student teaching at Lawrence North in 2002. He instructs Life Skills in the Special Education Department dealing with students who have moderate to severe disabilities. This only adds to his strength of character.

The Lady Wildcats have a strong future as well. Only one of two seniors is able to play. Hannah Farley is out with an injury leaving Mikale Rogers as the lone senior on the court. “Farley, in spite of her injuries preventing her to play on the court, is contributing in the locker room, at team meetings, and has been as committed as anyone to the team,” commented Giffin. “Mikale Rogers has been an incredible leader her senior year, leading by mouth and example,” says Giffin.

This leaves a strong support group for Giffin to work with in the coming years. These girls are driven, focused, and apparently rather bright. The team accumulated GPA is 3.5. This statistic makes Giffin most proud. “The entire team is made of leaders – both on the court and in the classroom,” says Giffin.

When asked of the future, Giffin’s plans for his team are “to establish and maintain one of – if not THE – premier high school girls basketball programs in the state of Indiana that has as its foundation strong academics, strong individual and team character, and winning.” And winning is what they are doing, on and off the court.