Jennifer Drudge’s last head coaching job ended 20 years ago at Carmel High School.
“I’ve always thought about being a head coach again,” she said. “I’m a sports junkie. I love being around a basketball bench, whether that was keeping the scorebook for boys basketball games and listening to what the coaches were saying, or watching games on TV and listening to announcers and coaches do interviews. I just love the game of basketball.”
Drudge, whose maiden name is Marlow, had to find the right opportunity in the right district. She found that when the Carmel resident was recently hired as Zionsville Community High School’s girls basketball coach. She replaces Andy Maguire, who resigned after his second stint as Eagles coach. He coached ZCHS from 1999 to 2006 and returned in 2010. In the last 14 seasons, the Eagles won four sectional titles and were 2018 Class 4A state runners-up.
“It’s an honor to be taking over that program,” Drudge said. “Coach Maguire and his staff did such a fantastic job over the last several years. I enjoyed watching them offensively and defensively. They did a lot of good things on the court. I’m excited about going into a culture that is already established.”
The Eagles will graduate four of their five starters, but Drudge said there are a lot of talented players returning.
Drudge, who was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023 , was a 1995 Indiana All-Star at Rushville High School and played at Butler University. She was a Carmel High assistant coach in 2000-01 and then became the head coach for three seasons. She returned as an assistant at CHS from 2009-13.
“During that time, I got hired as a department chair in science, so trying to be the department chair and assistant coach was a lot,” Drudge said.
Drudge returned as an assistant for first-year CHS coach Rick Risinger this past season after stepping down as department chair this school year.
“I told the Carmel girls that they are the reason I wanted to be a head coach again,” said Drudge, who enjoyed working with the Greyhounds. “Carmel is such a great school district (that) it was going to take another great district (for me) to think about applying to it.”
Drudge coached her niece Annika Marlow’s travel AAU team for several years. Marlow is a 2022 Rushville graduate.
“During that time, I didn’t want to be coaching other people’s kids,” Drudge said. “I wanted to see my niece play as much as possible.”
Drudge will finish out the year teaching chemistry at CHS, her 24th year at the school. She will teach math at ZCHS.
“I have a math license, so I’m comfortable with that new role also,” Drudge said.
