West Morgan hires former coach of the year to lead basketball program

May 16—TRINITY — The West Morgan Rebels have found their new boys basketball coach.

The school made the hire of former Brewer head coach Matthew Crowe official on Tuesday. He replaces previous head coach Bobby Meyer who took the head coaching job at Fairview High School.

Crowe spent this past season as an administrator at Fairview but was previously the ASWA Class 5A and Decatur Daily Class 5A-7A Coach of the Year after leading Brewer to a 25-7 record and its first Elite Eight appearance in 52 years in 2025.

Now he makes his return to coaching.

"I went out this past season and watched some of my friends coach their teams, and I knew I still had a passion for it," Crowe said. "I had been thinking about (returning to coaching) and was wondering what I was going to do when I saw the opening at West Morgan. I think it's a great opportunity."

Prior to being hired at Brewer in 2022, Crowe was an assistant basketball and football coach at West Morgan. West Morgan Athletic Director Mike Johnson said he'd hoped to one day bring Crowe back and it ended up being the perfect timing to make this hire.

"When he was with us before, he was such a hard-working young man who got a lot out of his kids," Johnson said. "He was the type of coach you hated to lose, so we're really excited to have him back."

When West Morgan's basketball job came open last month, Johnson laid out what he was looking for in a new coach. He said Crowe checks all those boxes.

"You look at all the success we're having in athletics right now, we think a lot of that comes from the emphasis we've put in the weight room," Johnson said. "Then you look at his teams he had at Brewer, they were always strong and physical."

"We also want the kind of leaders that can create a program with kids that do the right thing both on and off the field or court. We feel like he shares a lot of the same values as the other coaches we have," Johnson added.

Crowe will take over a West Morgan team that is coming off a 25-7 season and its third consecutive Elite Eight appearance. The Rebels are returning three starters from that team, including Landon Henderson who averaged 23 points, five rebounds and five assists per game and 96 steals.

It's a far cry from the rebuild Crowe inherited when he took the Brewer job, but he said he's ready to embrace the expectations.

"Expectations are great. I think having high expectations is something that everybody should strive for," Crowe said. "But it's not going to change how we operate. We're still going to try and just improve each day, and keep growing."

Crowe may be a new coach but he says the team he plans to deliver won't be much different from what West Morgan is used to.

"We want to be strong defensively, play fast and play with grit and toughness," he said. "We're going to be passionate and competitive, both in practice and in games."