<p>In his eight years as a middle school athletic director, David Edens often had a hard time finding one applicant to fill a coaching job.</p><p>His first trip through the hiring process as the incoming high school AD at Whiteland was a completely different experience.</p><p>"I hope every candidate pool is this good," he said.</p><p>After sifting through a strong group of prospective girls basketball coaches, Edens — who was given final say in the matter by retiring AD Ken Sears — found the one he wanted in Ashley Fouch, who was officially approved by the Clark-Pleasant school board on Tuesday evening.</p><p>Fouch had spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Class A Daleville, leading the team to its first-ever sectional championship this past winter. Though she thoroughly enjoyed her brief tenure there, the 2014 Taylor graduate was ready for a new challenge.</p><p>"For me, it was just about personal growth," she said, "and also wanting to test out and see what other type of impacts I could make and seeing if my coaching theory works in a 4A setting — and I absolutely believe that it can, so that’s why I’m here."</p><p>Fouch’s overall record of 31-39 during her three years at Daleville doesn’t appear impressive on the surface, but what she accomplished looks better and better after considering what she had inherited.</p><p>The Broncos opened the 21st century with a losing streak that extended to a state-record 113 games before being snapped in February of 2005, and they enjoyed just one winning season between that point and Fouch’s arrival in 2017. But she won seven games the first year, went 13-10 the following season and made school history this past February by beating host Tri-Central in a sectional final.</p><p>Within that context, Edens was impressed not only by what he saw on paper, but by what he heard from those in the community Fouch is leaving behind.</p><p>"It’s tangible," he said. "You can see where she changed the culture."</p><p>According to Fouch, there wasn’t some magical formula for doing so.</p><p>"It’s just about getting the kids to believe in themselves," she said. "At Daleville, they hadn’t tasted winning for a really, really long time, and it’s contagious when you do start doing it. And it honestly just comes from buying in and getting the kids to understand that basketball is a very unselfish game."</p><p>Fouch acknowledged that Whiteland presents different challenges, particuarly in terms of the level of competition, but she’s excited to inherit a young, athletic team that got some good varsity experience this past winter.</p><p>She said that one of the homework assignments that Edens gave her during the interview process was to look over a couple of the Warriors’ game films from last season and write up a scouting report.</p><p>"I kind of nitpicked each kid," Fouch explained. "That’s what I do; I like to try to figure out what their weaknesses and their strengths are. We have a lot of good kids coming back this year, which is great. We’re kind of young … for me that gives me a lot of excitement, because I know that they’re still in that moldable stage."</p><p>Fouch, a Muncie Central grad, also comes in with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. After assisting for a year at her alma mater under Lisa Blalock, who she still considers a mentor and speaks with regularly, Fouch — who has also made stops at an AAU program in Texas and at Anderson University — applied to be Blalock’s successor and was passed over. She instead went to Daleville — and while she’s moved on from that snub, she hasn’t necessarily forgotten.</p><p>"It’s my competitive nature," Fouch said with a laugh. "I think every coach has that in them."</p><p>This coming winter, she plans to use that competitive fuel to help Whiteland overtake its county and conference rivals.</p><p>"I’m excited to hopefully take them over that .500 hump," Fouch said, "because we’ve been stuck there for a couple of years."</p>
