By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Winkler
TAYLORSVILLE — Alexander Central High’s girls will go for their seventh straight winning basketball season and state playoff berth next season under a new head coach, their third in five seasons.
The school announced Wednesday its team will be guided by Jonathan Winkler, who is a veteran track and field and football assistant coach at the school.
Winkler replaces Jacob Lail, who resigned after one season (16-11, 11-3 North Piedmont 3A, second place) to continue his education as a teacher.
“We value Coach Winkler’s love of coaching and commitment to high school athletics,” Cougars athletic director Joanna Crew said in a press release. “The relationships he builds with our athletes have proven to be a main component to his coaching success in other sports.
“We look forward to watching his teams compete in the Northwestern 3A-4A… next season.”
A graduate of East Burke and Appalachian State, Winkler, 35, has served as Alexander Central’s head track and field coach for 11 years. He previously coached at South Caldwell and Hibriten.
“I am delighted that I have this amazing opportunity to take the helm as the Lady Cougar basketball team’s head coach,” Winkler said in the press release. “First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife Susan for the wonderful support that she and my children have given me.
Without them, I would not be where I am today.
“I would also like to thank Principal Doug Rhoney and Athletic Director Joanna Crew for hiring me for this wonderful coaching position.”
Winkler inherits a program that made a significant transition in less than a decade. Nine seasons ago, the Cougars finished 0-24 and had not won more than two conference games for 13th seasons in a row.
Matt Taylor began coaching Alexander Central in 2009-10, and the Cougars were 15-34 over two seasons. In his third season (2010-11), they went 21-8 overall and gained the only West Regional girls’ basketball appearance in school history (losing 58-51 to Myers Park).
The next season, Alexander Central shared a Northwestern 3A-4A title, went 25-5 and lost in a sectional title game.
When Taylor resigned, the Cougars hired current Lenoir-Rhyne University assistant coach Brad Mangum, who left Fred T. Foard to join Alexander Central. His teams went 28-2, 19-8 and 23-7 and sandwiched two North Piedmont 3A-4A regular season titles (14-0 each time) around a second-place finish in 2015-16.
Last season, the Cougars went 10-4 the NPC 3A-4A — sharing second place with Mooresville – and they were eliminated in the second round of the league tournament by Mooresville (54-42).
Rocky River beat Alexander Central 69-64 in the opening round of last season’s state 4A playoffs.
In August, the Cougars return to the Northwestern 3A-4A as part of statewide realignment. They’ve been in the NPC 3A-4A for four years, spent four years in the Northwestern 3A-4A before that and were in the Northwestern 4A for 24 seasons after moving up from 3A to 4A in 1985-86.