New Haven names Rod Chamble as next girls basketball coach

New Haven did not wait for the calendar to cool off. On June 3, the Bulldogs named Rod Chamble their next varsity girls basketball coach, a move that immediately shifted the conversation from vacancy to direction, and from replacement to reset.

The timing matters. New Haven Athletics said a parent and player meeting would be held the following week, which means Chamble will not spend the summer learning names from a distance. He gets a chance to meet the roster now, during the stretch when summer basketball, open gyms and team workouts can shape how a program looks by November and how connected players feel long before the first official practice.

Chamble arrives with a record that gives the hire real weight. He spent eight seasons as the head boys basketball coach at Fort Wayne Northrop from 2015 through 2023, and the Bruins went 204-109 in that span while winning a sectional title in 2019. That kind of résumé is the reason this hire lands differently than a routine offseason change. New Haven is not just banking on a familiar name from northeast Indiana. It is banking on a coach who has already shown he can build and sustain a winning program in the same basketball ecosystem.

That regional footprint is part of the point. New Haven sits in East Allen County Schools in Allen County and competes in the Northeast 8 Conference, where relationships, continuity and local credibility can matter as much as a playbook. Chamble’s background gives the Bulldogs a coach who knows the area, understands the expectations and should be able to move quickly on player retention, staff alignment and the day-to-day messaging that decides whether a roster stays steady or starts to drift.

The urgency behind the move is clear. New Haven made the change just weeks after former coach Kevin Clopton was dismissed, leaving little time for a slow search or a long ramp-up. By getting Chamble in place in early June, the Bulldogs gave themselves the full summer to define identity, sort out roles and set a tone before the 2026-27 season begins. In a conference as familiar and competitive as the Northeast 8, that early start is not a bonus. It is the advantage New Haven needed.