Daleville’s Fouch wants spotlight to remain on players

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DALEVILLE – There’s an above average chance Ashley Fouch would prefer you not to read this story.

The fourth-year Daleville boys basketball coach abhors the spotlight – unless it’s shining directly on her players.

But Fouch’s knack for making history with the Broncos is difficult to ignore.

Five years ago, she led the Daleville girls basketball team to the first sectional championship in program history. On Saturday, she and the Broncos boys won their first sectional crown since 2009, and Fouch became the first woman to lead a boys basketball team to a postseason title in IHSAA history.

It’s a unique milestone the players are overjoyed to share with their leader.

“That was pretty cool seeing that all happen,” senior guard Hunter Suchnya said. “And to come across (the finish line), it was really awesome.  But … it’s just great. She deserves it more than anybody.”

Few saw this historic moment coming.

Daleville snapped a four-game losing streak with an overtime victory against Madison-Grant in the regular season finale and entered the postseason with a 6-15 record.

John Harrell – a prominent Indiana high school basketball archivist whose computer-ratings driven predictions are highly regarded throughout the state – gave the Broncos less than a 10% chance of cutting down the nets at the end of the Class 1A sectional at Southwood.

But the Daleville players never lost faith.

IHSAA realignment significantly changed the makeup of Sectional 55 last spring, and the Broncos have had their sites set on ending their championship drought since dropping a five-point decision against Delaware County-rival Cowan in the semifinals last March.

Daleville waited out Suchnya’s six-game absence to start the season while his transfer was completed and overcame two separate four-game losing streaks and a three-game skid during the regular season.

When the tournament finally started, the Broncos signaled their intentions with a blowout 76-62 victory against Tri-Central in the opening round and then clawed their way through tight decisions against county-rival Wes-Del (68-66) in the semifinals and Northfield (64-60) in the title tilt.

Through it all, Fouch saw a team with an uncommon bond beginning to realize its vast potential.

“They’re good, and they just need to know it,” Fouch said. “So I’m glad they got to taste it and feel the joy of winning on Saturday and see it fall all over their faces. It was really fun for me to watch. They just deserve it, so I’m proud of them.”

It took a measure of courage for Daleville to hire Fouch prior to the 2021-22 school year.

The former Muncie Central point guard had well-established credentials as an effective leader and basketball tactician, but in more than 100 years of competition, no Delaware County school ever had hired a woman to coach a boys basketball team.

The Broncos knew the move would garner attention far beyond the typical hiring, and they took the rare step of scheduling a press conference to introduce the new coach.

Fouch attempted to drive one point home repeatedly that afternoon: Regardless of gender, basketball is basketball.

She’s approached her tenure – that now includes a role as the school’s athletic director and saw her coach the boys and girls teams simultaneously in 2022-23 – with that same guiding principle.

During this regular season, for the first time, Fouch felt the dynamic shifting. She believed she was no longer being viewed as a “female” coach. She was just a basketball coach like any other.

Then the Broncos won the sectional, and the bright lights returned anew.

As much as Fouch craves to put the spotlight squarely on the players and remove herself from the conversation, she also understands the impact her story can have on young girls just beginning their own unique basketball journeys.

“You do have to think about that part, too, and I think it’s just a balance,” Fouch said. “I think the boys understand it, too, which is great. … (T)hey were the ones that were hyping it up, and if that’s where it’s coming from, then I’m good.”

The players have fully embraced this Cinderella run.

Senior Josh Wilson credits Fouch with creating a competitive atmosphere in practice that prepares Daleville for whatever it will face on game day.

That preparation combined with the team’s deep chemistry and abiding belief in what it can accomplish powered the Broncos through the close battles in the final two rounds of the sectional.

The reward is a week of increased attention on the program and a rematch against Mid-Eastern Conference rival Monroe Central in the regional Saturday at 4 p.m. at New Castle.

That game can be heard live on WMUN with pregame beginning at 3:30 p.m. and streamed at IHSAATV.org.

“To me, it feels like a dream, like it’s not actually happening,” Wilson said of preparing for his first regional. “But I feel like, yeah, we definitely turned some heads (with the sectional title). And I feel like … this week on Saturday, we’re going to turn some more heads. We’re going to compete and possibly win.”

That would represent another milestone for Daleville. The boys basketball program never has claimed a regional championship.

Fittingly, the odds are stacked against the Broncos.

The Golden Bears (18-6) won the regular season meeting between the teams 78-59 on Dec. 6, and Monroe Central leads the all-time series 31-12 over the past 40 years – including a 2-0 mark in postseason play.

Harrell again is prominent among the naysayers, giving the Golden Bears greater than an 83% chance of victory and predicting a 16-point loss for Daleville.

Like all successful coaches, however, Fouch has transferred her personality to her team.

Just as she has silenced the outside noise and focused on the task at hand over the past four years, the Broncos again are blocking out the doubters.

The only voices that matter to them are inside their locker room, and they are playing for each other.

And their history-making coach.

“Throughout the season, we’ve seen at points what we can do and how well we can play, and I think we use that to help us play well,” senior guard Noah Colvin said. “And just knowing that this could be it – before every game, we’re like, ‘Don’t let this be the last time we touch the floor together.’

“So we knew people’s predictions (for the sectional) and saw that, and it helped motivate us to just keep pushing and win.”

Daleville’s sectional crown has resonated across the state, with Fouch’s story catching the attention even of some non-basketball fans.

As media requests and plaudits from colleagues roll in, Fouch is quick to credit her players’ growth and accomplishments and make every attempt to deflect the focus from her narrative.

But she’s hopeful the championship has a lasting impact among her fellow athletic directors.

The sectional title underscores Fouch’s “basketball is basketball” ethos, and perhaps it will lead to more opportunities for women in the coaching ranks.

“I would hope so,” Fouch said. “By all means, I always want more people to try to grab my hand with me and go along the journey with me. But I guess it only takes one (success story), and if that one has to be me, then let’s do it.

“So I would love for people to start opening up that door a lot more than what it is right now.”