Matthew Crouch joined the boys’ varsity basketball team as head coach for the 2024-25 season.
Crouch has different levels of experience, coaching AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] teams (2012-13), then became an assistant coach at Peru State College (2016-17) and at Northwest Highschool prior to joining the team.
“I love the community that Bryan has; there’s just a lot of tradition here,” Crouch said. “I wanted to be part of maintaining excellence and the sense of community the athletic programs have.”
Senior Kaleb Kimble has had the same head coach until this year.
“My first impression of Crouch was like any coach,” Kimble said. “I’m going to trust the process until I see how he is and what their coaching motives are.”
Junior varsity assistant coach Mitchell Wattles is glad he and his players are gaining experience.
Wattles perspective is “we have a lot of new guys playing varsity,” he said. “Their [the team’s] perspective is they are learning to play at the highest level, and they have to do it quick.”
Crouch must adjust his coaching strategy to accommodate to the players’ differences.
“My leadership philosophy is ‘everybody learns in different ways,’” Crouch said. “Sometimes I might have to yell at somebody; whereas, other times, it’s more of a one-on-one conversation. The most important thing is listening.”
Kimble believes that Crouch is a good coach and holds his players to high standards.
“Crouch needs higher level players…,” Kimble said. “He’s trying to implement so much stuff and they’re not comprehending it.”
Wattles noticed Crouch has a lot of energy and motivation.
“He brings something different that we haven’t had before, which is good and challenging at the same time,” Wattles said.
Crouch has high expectations from his players.
“Short-term, we gotta win one [game],” Crouch said. “Long-term, put a [championship] banner up there.”
Wattles feels Crouch does not give up and is here for a home.
“I think that he’s trying to build a program to help Bryan High School,” Wattles said. “I don’t think he’s looking to leave because there’s nowhere else to go that’s better than Bryan.”
