Hall lands All-Star director position

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August 13, 2008

By DAVE KITCHELL The Kokomo Tribune Wed Aug 13, 2008, 10:38 PM EDT

Former Kokomo High School coaching great Charlie Hall is back in the game.

Just 11 months ago, Hall left KHS to accept a position on the Ball State women’s basketball coaching staff.

What began as a perfect extension from coaching high school sports for 26 years turned sour when head coach Tracy Roller resigned because of health reasons. That meant a new coach — Kelly Packard — and her hand-picked coaching staff.

Hall said Wednesday night he was indeed back in basketball. He’s been named Indiana’s game director in the annual Indiana-Kentucky Basketball Series.

“It’s a great opportunity and it’s exciting,” Hall said. “After coaching basketball so long, I have a lot of friends and colleagues in the game and this will be an opportunity to stay in contact with them.

“It gives me a chance to stay involved in the game. I have the ‘coaching bug’ out of me now and assembling a team like this will be fun — and a challenge.”

Another challenge Hall faces is pumping more interest in the series.

“In June, we had about 5,000 fans at the game in Indianapolis and for a summer all-star game, that’s better than you would get most anywhere,” he said. “But it’s slipped a little when you consider we had about 10,000 fans when I coached the team in 2003. We definitely want to look at ideas of pumping up attendance.”

Hall said the job, which he calls “a semi-fulltime job,” involves much more than selecting the Hoosier state’s boys and girls teams for games that will be played June 13-14.

He said he would be attending the state finals, all Top 40 workouts, North-South games and coaches association meetings. He’ll also be involved in marketing, but his biggest challenge will be combing the state during the season, watching as many prospects as possible.

“[Last year’s game director] Pete Smith said he saw 81 games, so I’m sure I’ll see at least that many,” Hall said. “You know filling those first five jerseys is pretty easy, it’s those last seven that are difficult.

“What I hope to do is have a group of coaches, retired coaches and media who can help. It’s a pairing-down process. I don’t look forward to being judge and jury on who makes the team, so I want to have as much input as possible.”

One of the reasons Hall was chosen by the Indianapolis Star was his experience in coaching boys and girls teams. Hall assisted in the boys varsity program at Haworth and Kokomo high schools for 18 years, before serving as head coach for the Kokomo girls varsity for eight seasons, amassing a 172-22 won-lost record.

That 89 percent winning percentage is likely another reason he has the job. He knows talent when he sees it.

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