Joe Badgett, “Cool, calm, and collect”
Joe Badgett and winning go hand and hand. He has a tremendous resume as a head coach and assistant coach. Coach Badgett has either coached or been an assistant coach the last nine years at Carmel Christian or Northside Christian. During this time frame, a coach Badgett team has played for an NCISAA state championship and has also won five championships during this run. Last year, coach Badgett won another state championship as the head coach of Carmel Christian. They went 31-3 and lost five D1 players due to graduation. Many people figured this year would be a down year for Carmel and coach Badgett. You don’t lose players like Donovan Gregory (Appalachian State), DeAngelo Epps (College of Charleston), Myles Pierre (Houston Baptist), Marten Maide (Liberty), and Jake Boggs (UNC-Wilmington) and have a winning season the following year. Look no further and coach Badgettt has Carmel Christian sitting with an impressive 16-3 record. To take it a step further, one of his best players, 6’8 junior Ben Burnham has been out with a hand injury for the past nine games. We’re talking about a player that has been averaging a double double in points and rebounds.
This year’s team is once again predicated on teamwork and balance. In the impressive 82-66 win over Georgia 2A power Jeff Davis High School at the Phenom Low Country Showcase in Charleston, South Carolina. Coach Badgett used his “calm, cool, and collect” approach to make his points hit home during halftime. Going into the half, Carmel trailed for the majority of the first quarter before securing a 34-30 halftime lead. Once again, coach Badgett made the necessary adjustments and Carmel went on a 14-0 third quarter run and never looked back. 6’3 ’21 Justin Taylor finished with a game high 24 points, 6’5 ’20 Kenny Gwynn tallied 13 while 6’8 ’22 Elijah Gray and 6’5 ’21 Glenn Bynum scored 11 and 10 points respectively.
Coach Joe Badgett has been coaching for the past 20 years and during this time frame, he has only received one technical foul, which in itself a remarkable accomplishment, but one that really shouldn’t surprise us. When it comes to coaching, Joe Badgett is a true professional. He looks like he just stepped out of a GQ photo shoot. In addition, he is a true gentleman on the sidelines and his court demeanor should be the envy of many in the coaching professional. The soft spoken and genuinely humble coach is often a man of very few words. His words have meaning and often it’s not the words that sting, but the “stare down” he gives his players or officials. For coach Joe Badgett, he is as cool, calm and collect as they come. And one more thing, after losing five D1 players, look for Carmel Christian to make another title run. He’s not the most vocal coach, but his method, delivery and approach have proven to quite successful.