Fishers coach Garrett Winegar leaves for Iowa United Prep role

Garrett Winegar’s exit hits Fishers far beyond the coaching chair. The Tigers are losing the man who guided them to two IHSAA Class 4A titles and turned a reopened school into a state power, and that changes the immediate title outlook in Hamilton County and across Class 4A.

Winegar told his players Monday, March 17, 2026, that he was stepping down as Fishers’ boys basketball coach to join Iowa United Prep in Des Moines, where he will coach the program’s freshman-sophomore team. Iowa United is part of the Nike EYBL Scholastic circuit and also plays on the Nike summer circuit, making it one of the prep-school programs that now competes directly with traditional Indiana high school powers for coaches, players and exposure. Keith Smart, the former Indiana standout and NBA player and coach, is listed as Iowa United’s head coach.

The numbers explain why this departure lands so hard. Winegar finished 132-25 in six seasons at Fishers, and the Tigers went 83-3 over his final three seasons. Fishers won its first state championship in 2024, then returned to the Class 4A state championship game in 2025 after entering that final as the top-ranked team. The 2024 title also marked the program’s first appearance in the state finals since 1922, a staggering gap for a school whose current incarnation opened in 2007.

That history makes the timing more than a routine coaching change. Fishers now has to protect a championship standard without the coach who built it, and the next move will shape how quickly returning players can reset around a new voice. Whether the school turns to an internal option to preserve continuity or looks outside for a fresh start, the transition matters because Fishers is no longer trying to break through. It is trying to stay at the top in a class where every contender now sees an opening.

Winegar’s move also fits a larger shift in Indiana basketball. Rapheal Davis, the Purdue alum and former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, has pointed to the way prep-school programs are pulling ground away from Indiana high school basketball. Iowa United’s development-first model, with elite training, college recruitment and academics at its core, is part of that expanding ecosystem. For Indiana powers like Fishers, the challenge is no longer just winning in March. It is holding onto the people who know how to win there.