PENDLETON — At its Aug. 4 meeting, the South Madison Community School Corp. Board of Trustees approved Joe Buck as the next boys varsity basketball head coach.
Buck previously spent 13 seasons on the Pendleton Heights bench as the head coach from 1993-2006. He then moved away from coaching to serve as district chief financial officer from 2007-11 and later as superintendent until his retirement in 2020.
Buck replaces Adam Ballard, who coached the Arabians for three seasons and finished his tenure with a 24-48 record.
In his first stint at Pendleton Heights, Buck won a program-best 189 games and six of the school’s first nine sectional championships (‘94, ‘95, ‘96, ‘00, ‘03, and ‘04). During the 13 years, he compiled a record of 189-105, a winning percentage of .642 and 11 winning seasons.
The 2000 team went on to win the only regional championship in school history, making them a final-four participant.
During his tenure, he coached two Indiana All-Stars, including current Pendleton Heights girls basketball head coach Nick Rogers, and was the Indiana All-Star Head Coach in 2005.
Following a stint in July as the interim coach running workouts, the offer to return full-time was extended.
“Originally, I agreed to help the team by running July workouts. I was happy to be available, and I really enjoyed working with the team,” said Buck in the school’s press release. “It was great to be able to help the basketball program, and it was great to get back in the gym. Now that things have turned out the way they have, I am looking forward to the opportunity to give back and to try to help the school corporation and the basketball program that were so good to my family and I.”
As head coach, Buck emphasized discipline on and off the court, an idea that teamwork was the only option, and he built a winning culture that went beyond the basketball court.
“To say that we are thrilled to have Coach Buck back in charge of our basketball program would be an understatement. There are no words to describe the impact that Coach Buck has had in the past and will have on our future,” Pendleton Heights athletic director Chad Smith said in the release. “Our entire athletic department got better with his return. He will be a mentor to our student-athletes as well as our coaches in all sports.”
Smith was a member of the Arabians team during Buck’s first tenure as head coach.
“It was an honor to play for Coach Buck, and an even bigger honor for me to be able to provide a platform for Coach Buck to do what he knows best. As a former player of his, I know that our vision for the basketball program is the same because I learned it from him,” Smith said. “We want our basketball players to mature into leaders in their community, be good husbands and fathers, and make a positive impact on others.”