By Will Willems/The Lebanon Reporter
It was the end of an era for Lebanon girls basketball in March when longtime coach Tracey Hammel did not have her contract renewed by the Lebanon Community School Corporation School Board.
Hammel, who led Lebanon for 16 seasons, had a 222-140 record at the school.
She led the school to five sectional and three regional titles in her tenure.
In her final season, the Tigers went 8-14 and lost in the first round of the sectionals to Southmont.
While Hammel did not attend the board meeting herself, she had a large contingent of supporters at the meeting spilling into the hallways, 12 of whom spoke.
“Letting her go is a total injustice to the town and school,” Blaine Boyland said at the meeting. “The support is there for her, you just need to support her too.”
Two months later the job was given to Dave Ferrell, a former Lebanon player who has come back to lead the program.
Ferrell knew when he took the job in May that he was going to have big shoes to fill.
“It’s hard to live up to 220 plus wins,” he said. “She and I are actually really good acquaintances. My goal is to build a program founded on hard work and class. And we are going to build a culture around here in which girls enjoy playing basketball. But they also understand that the ultimate goal here is to win some games. Hopefully the community will support that.”
Hammel, who did not return phone calls from the Lebanon Reporter, took a job at Zionsville Community High School as the assistant coach for the junior varsity team.
