Blackhawk Christian's Roth Named Athletic Director, Keeps Coaching Role

The coach who went 93-22 in four seasons and delivered a state championship to Blackhawk Christian now holds the keys to the entire athletic department.

Blackhawk Christian named head boys basketball coach Matt Roth as its new athletic director on March 26, keeping Roth on the bench while giving him direct oversight of scheduling, facilities, multi-sport coordination and department budgeting. Former AD Joel Cotton, who spent a decade running the department, moves into a newly created role as Director of Academic Services.

The dual-role structure puts three consequential decisions directly in Roth's hands that basketball families will feel immediately: the Braves' non-conference scheduling calendar, which Roth now controls end-to-end rather than through a separate administrator; facility access and gym time allocations for offseason workouts and summer camps; and coaching staff continuity, since personnel decisions for the basketball program now run through the same person who builds the roster.

Roth's record at Blackhawk is the reason the school moved this direction. His four-season ledger of 93-22 includes a 20-8 finish and a 3A sectional title in the most recent year, built on top of a Class 2A state championship in 2023. The program has collected four sectional titles and two regional crowns under his tenure, establishing Blackhawk as one of the most decorated small-school programs in northeast Indiana.

A former Indiana University guard, Roth returned to the Fort Wayne area and spent time as an assistant under Marc Davidson from 2013 to 2016 before stepping away and eventually coming back as head coach. His familiarity with the school's culture and mission was central to the appointment; the school framed the transition as an internal promotion built around continuity rather than an outside search.

Cotton's decade as AD shaped much of the department's infrastructure. His move to academic services keeps institutional knowledge inside the building while clearing the way for Roth's oversight of the athletic side.

The school was direct about Year 1 expectations: Roth's coaching responsibilities will not be reduced, and families were told the competitive environment that produced the 2023 state title remains the standard. In practice, that means Roth manages offseason programming, summer camps and basketball staff decisions while simultaneously handling AD functions that span Blackhawk's full portfolio of athletic programs.

The arrangement mirrors a model common at smaller private schools across Indiana, where tight-knit programs benefit from having a single figure who can align coaching philosophy with departmental strategy. For Blackhawk Christian, the calculation is straightforward: a coach who has won at this rate doesn't need to be separated from administration; he needs to run it.