North Putnam hires Kenneth Weaver as boys basketball coach

North Putnam has turned its boys basketball program over to Kenneth Weaver, a move that says as much about direction as it does about a coaching search. Weaver takes over after a 6-11 season in 2025-26, with the Cougars heading into Class 2A, Sectional 41 and looking for a steadier base after postseason losses to Cloverdale and South Putnam.

The job was built to be bigger than one varsity bench. North Putnam’s posting called for a head coach who would oversee the high school, middle school and youth programs, while also helping select staffs at every level. The school said prior basketball coaching experience was preferred, along with a commitment to excellence and high character, and the opening was listed through the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association job line. That setup points to a program trying to align its feeder system and varsity identity under one voice.

Weaver arrives with exactly the kind of Central Indiana résumé North Putnam was looking for. He had spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at Fishers High School and had also worked as an assistant at several area schools, including Ben Davis High School. For a smaller program in Putnam County, that background matters. Fishers and Ben Davis operate in some of Indiana’s deepest basketball water, where scouting, skill development and day-to-day structure are under constant pressure. North Putnam is betting that experience can travel west to Roachdale.

The change also ends Vince Brooks’ run as the program’s most successful coach. North Putnam did not renew Brooks’ contract after a school board recommendation approved at an April 16, 2026, meeting. Brooks finished 96-78 in seven seasons and led the Cougars to four sectional championship game appearances, a standard that raised expectations even as the program searched for a new lift.

Weaver inherits a team that has already shown how thin the margin can be. North Putnam’s recent record left the Cougars looking for a way back into contention, and the next coach will be judged quickly on whether he can stabilize the program’s structure, keep the younger levels connected to varsity and make the Cougars harder to dismiss in the 2A tournament path.