Plainfield hires alum Gavin Groninger to lead boys basketball program

Plainfield turned to a familiar name with a heavy standard attached to it, hiring Gavin Groninger to lead the boys basketball program after a career that already ties him to the school’s biggest moment. Groninger played on Plainfield’s 1999 Class 3A state championship team, scored 17 points in the title game, and still holds the program’s career scoring record with 1,768 points. For a school that has built much of its basketball identity on that season, the move sends a clear message: Plainfield wants its next coach to understand not only the game, but the weight of the jersey.

That 1999 run still defines the program. Plainfield beat Muncie Southside 77-64 at the RCA Dome, finished 26-1, and captured the first IHSAA team-sport state championship in school history under Dana Greene. Groninger’s old teammate Jake Wiltrout led the Quakers with 19 points in that final, but Groninger’s name remains attached to the most important milestone the school has ever celebrated. Bringing him home gives Plainfield a coach who does not need a history lesson to understand why every sectional game still carries extra meaning.

The timing of the hire matters, too. Andy Weaver stepped down March 11 after 14 seasons, closing a long and accomplished run that included a 24-3 season in 2020-21 and a sectional title, Plainfield’s first since the 1998-99 state-title team. Weaver arrived with his own proven résumé from Western, where he won six sectional titles and a regional in 2004, so Groninger is inheriting a job with real expectations already baked in. This is not a rebuild from scratch. It is a program that has seen what a breakthrough looks like and is now trying to get there again.

Groninger brings recent evidence that he can help a program move forward. He was hired at Mooresville in August 2024 and, in his first season, helped the Pioneers win their first sectional title in 27 years. Mooresville’s two-year record under him was 22-27 overall, which suggests Plainfield is getting a coach who understands how to turn steady work into a postseason result, even before the win-loss record fully catches up. That matters in the Mid-State Conference, where schools with size, tradition, and expectations do not get much time to wait.

The roster he inherits has already shown it can compete, even if the next step remains the hardest one. Plainfield lost to Pike 56-53 in a March 6 sectional semifinal, with senior Noah Smith scoring 23 points in the season-ending defeat. Six other seniors also moved on, leaving Groninger with a group that has enough recent competitiveness to matter, but still needs a new core to take the next jump. Plainfield High School’s enrollment of 1,781 students only adds to the pressure, because in a school that large, the basketball program is expected to contend quickly. Groninger comes home with the right pedigree, and now the question is how fast he can turn that legacy into another run toward March.