MADISON TOWNSHIP — Davey Hipp is ready for a new challenge and Madison’s new boys basketball coach can’t wait to get started.
A 2017 Shelby graduate, Hipp was selected from a pool of eight applicants to succeed Chris Armstrong at Madison. He spent the past three seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, helping the Whippets reach the Division II Final Four in March.
“I’ve learned a lot from the coaching staff at Shelby the past three years and I saw an opportunity at Madison,” Hipp said. “I feel like I’m ready to step into a head coaching role.”
Madison athletic director Doug Rickert agreed.
“He comes from a winning tradition. They’ve definitely been winning a lot of basketball games at Shelby,” Rickert said. “His knowledge of the game is very good.”
A four-year letterman at Shelby, Hipp ranked sixth on the school’s career scoring list with 1,047 points. He played collegiately at Heidelberg and Muskingum.
“He was a very good player for Shelby and he played in college,” Rickert said. “He comes from a very good family and has a very good background.”
Shelby won the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship last winter and captured the first regional championship in program history. The Whippets (25-3) fell to Maysville 68-65 in the state semifinals in Dayton.
“The staff at Shelby with (head coach) Greg Gallaway and (assistants) Todd Kehres and Steve Hoffbauer and Alex Kurtzman was amazing,” Hipp said. “It was a special season.”
Meanwhile, an inexperienced Madison team — there were just three seniors on Armstrong’s 2023-24 roster — finished 1-22.
“I really liked Chris from the little I got to know him,” Hipp said. “HIs kids played hard for him. I definitely won’t be starting from scratch.”
While he hasn’t met with his new team yet, Hipp said the Rams are not unlike the Whippets.
“The Madison kids have the same blue-collar mentality that the Shelby kids have. They are hard workers,” Hipp said. “They are cut from the same cloth.”
Madison and Shelby traditionally meet in the season opener. This year’s game will be Nov. 29 at Madison.
“That will definitely be a different experience, but it will be fun,” Hipp said of the prospect of playing the Whippets in his first game as a head coach. “It will be a little different wearing green instead of red, but I’m looking forward to it.”