The coaching staffs for the IndyStar.com Indiana boys' All-Stars and the IndyStar.com Indiana boys' Junior All-Stars have been set.
David Benter, coach at Brownstown Central, will lead the 2014 Indiana boys' All-Stars as the seniors face Kentucky in the annual series that dates to 1940. He will be assisted by James Blackmon of Marion and Clint Swan of Crown Point.
Jamie Kolkmeier of Corydon Central is the head coach for the 2014 boys' Junior All-Stars. He will be assisted by Chad Ballenger of Hamilton Heights and Brent Keck of Perry Meridian.
The Indiana All-Star juniors and seniors each will play four games over six dates June.
The All-Star Juniors will face the Kentucky Junior All-Stars on June 6 at Scecina High School in Indianapolis and on June 7 at a site in Lexington, Ky.
The Indiana All-Star seniors will face the Kentucky Senior All-Stars on June 13 at Transylvania University in Lexington and on June 14 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Indiana juniors and seniors will play exhibitions against each other on June 9 and June 11 at sites to be announced later.
Benter has posted a record of 280-107 in 16 seasons at Brownstown Central, his alma mater. Highlights include titles in seven sectionals, two regionals and two semistates, and the Braves were Class 2A state runners-up in 2004 and 2009. His teams also have won or shared eight Mid-Southern Conference titles.
Benter is a 1992 graduate of Brownstown Central, where he scored 837 points as a varsity basketball player. He later was a four-year letterman at Hanover College, where he was a three-time team MVP, scored 1,934 career points and was selected NCAA Division III National Player of the Year as a senior.
As a coach, Benter twice has been named IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year (2004 and 2010), four times has been selected HBCA District 4 Coach of the Year and he was the boys' Junior All-Star coach in 2010. In 2013-14, Benter, Kolkmeier and Clarksville's Jason Connell shared honors as Mid-Southern Conference Coach of the Year.
Blackmon recently completed his first season with an 18-5 record at Marion, his alma mater. He previously was the coach for nine seasons at Fort Wayne Luers, guiding the Knights to five sectional, two regional, two semistate and Class 2A state championships in 2008 and 2009. He has a 10-year varsity coach record of 164-68.
As a player, Blackmon scored 1,897 points at Marion, was chosen an All-American and finished as runner-up for the Indiana Mr. Basketball award in 1983. As a senior, he led the Giants to the State Finals, scoring 52 points in a state semifinal loss to Anderson. The Indiana All-Star player then went to the University of Kentucky, scoring 866 points in 128 games for the Wildcats, and later was selected in the fifth round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets.
Swan directed Crown Point to a 12-9 record in 2013-14. He is 98-76 in eight seasons with the Bulldogs, and he has a 236-148 mark in 17 seasons as a head coach. Swan previously coached four years at Andrean and five years at Frankfort. His teams have won four sectionals, three regionals and a semistate. His Andrean squad was Class 3A state runner-up in 2000.
Swan is a 1991 graduate of Rensselaer Central High School and a 1995 graduate of Saint Joseph's College. He served as an assistant coach at North Newton, Tri-County and Andrean prior to being named Andrean's head coach in the summer of 1997. Swan was the IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year in 2000.
Kolkmeier has been coach at Corydon Central for eight seasons, guiding the Panthers to a 118-70 mark that included a 19-4 finish in 2013-14. He previously was coach for six seasons at North Judson and has a 14-year career record of 177-140.
Kolkmeier, a 1992 graduate of Waldron, attended Franklin College, where he was a three-year member of the Grizzlies' basketball program. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Waldron, then later assisted at Kokomo before accepting the head coaching assignment at North Judson.
Kolkmeier's teams at Corydon Central have won two sectionals and a share of two MSC championships.
Ballenger led Hamilton Heights to an 18-4 record this season and is 98-57 in seven seasons with the Huskies. Overall, he has a 175-140 mark in 14 seasons in a career that included two years at Eastern (Greentown) and five years at Knightstown.
Ballenger is a 1988 graduate of Hagerstown and a 1994 graduate of Ball State. His teams have won four sectionals and one regional.
Keck just completed his fourth season at Perry Meridian and his 17th season as a boys' basketball varsity coach. Keck's Falcons have gone 11-9 and 13-7 the past two seasons, the program's first back-to-back winning season in 12 years.
Keck is a 1987 graduate of Anderson Highland and a 1991 graduate of UNC-Asheville, where he played four years of Division I basketball. Keck previously has been a head coach at Cowan, South Adams, Frankton and Scottsburg and has a career mark of 186-178 with three conference championships. Keck also was the girls' varsity coach at Frankton for one season, and he was a boys' basketball assistant at Anderson Highland, Shenandoah, East Noble and Frankton prior to becoming a head coach.