The Managers Complete: New Prairie Successions and the League's Own

Head coaches in order, with seasons

Football. Bart Curtis, 1997–2007: 4–6, 6–4, 7–3, 8–3, 7–4, 8–4, 8–3, 12–2 with a regional title in 2004, 6–4, 11–2 with a sectional in 2006, 7–3 — then Mishawaka from 2008 and later Warsaw. The dug record does not establish the New Prairie head coach or coaches for 2008–2011; that four-season span is the succession's open middle and is stated, not filled. Russ Radtke, 2012–2019 (eight seasons): 9–2; 12–1 with a sectional in 2013; 13–2 in 2014, semi-state and the state final; 6–4; 9–3; 11–2 with a sectional in 2017; 7–4; 11–2 with a sectional in 2019. Radtke came to New Prairie after ten years at North Judson, six at Connersville and nineteen at Griffith (the 1997 Class 4A state title), left for Knox in June 2020, and was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame on 9 September 2022; his 379–152 career mark through 2021 stood second in Indiana history, at 413 wins by the end of 2024. Casey McKim, 2020–2024 (five seasons, 48–17): took over from Radtke during the COVID pandemic; 5–5, then 11–3 with a regional title in 2021, 13–2 with a semi-state and a state-finals trip in 2022, and four straight sectional titles through 2023 and 2024. He left for the Lowell head-coaching job, reported 4 February 2025. Ryan O'Shea, 2025–present: hired after five seasons as Lakeland's head coach (a .500-or-better record in his last two seasons there, 30-plus points per game), a Ball State business graduate who teaches business at New Prairie; the NPUSC board approved the hiring unanimously on 19 March 2025. O'Shea is the present holder — this settles the in-file want GAP-NC5-SPO-2.

Softball. Tim Scott coached the 2006 state finalists — the IHSAA records book prints the 2005–06 Class 3A final as Boonville (Mike Wilson), 32–2, def. New Prairie (Tim Scott), 31–4, 5–0. Derek Hicks was the head coach of the 2023 state champions, described in the IHSAA's finals report as a sixth-year New Prairie coach (a start with the 2018 season implied by the record, stated as the record states it); his listed assistants in the 2022–23 finals program were Scott Meredith, Shauna Sommers and Anne Spahn, among others. No later succession was dug; the succession's reached end is Hicks at the 2023 title, where Sports also banks him.

Baseball. Mark Schellinger was head coach of the 2024 state champions and remains head coach in the Tribune's May–June 2026 coverage — a fourth straight sectional title on 1 June 2026 and Northern Indiana Conference wins over Penn that May — and he was the North head coach for the 2019 IHSBCA North–South All-Star Series. His start year at New Prairie was not established in the dug record; the reached end is Schellinger, in post, 2024–2026.

Girls' basketball. The fullest succession in the school record, complete since 2000: Dan Shead, twelve seasons through 2011–12 (best 18–4); Doug Matthys, 2012–13 to 2014–15; Gretchen Krivak, 2015–16 and 2016–17; Ric Mauch, 2017–18; Todd Dermody, 2018–19 and 2019–20; Aimee Litka, six seasons, 2020–21 through 2025–26, 58–78 in all — the 2023–24 team went 20–6 and won the program's first sectional title since 2000, then graduated eight seniors and fell to 3–20 and 4–19; Litka resigned 2 April 2026 and remains a New Prairie Middle School teacher. Ryan Curless was named head coach on Monday 27 April 2026, after six years as the program's JV coach — the program's fifth head coach of the decade and seventh since 2000, matching the log's count exactly; his lead assistant is Shauna Tewell, and athletic director Mark McBride's stated target is the program's fifth sectional title. Only two winning seasons in the last twenty-two years is the Tribune's measure of the job he inherits.

Boys' basketball. As far as the dug record reaches: Kris Davis, 2018–19 (7–16); Mike Bauer, 2019–20 through 2022–23 (13–13, then the 19–8 sectional-title season of 2020–21, 6–18, 9–14); Ben Wiginton, 2023–24 and 2024–25 (4–19, 6–18); Drew Lutz, 2025–26 — age 24, a Penn High School and Bethel University alumnus, in his first head-coaching job anywhere, taking a team whose leading scorer, Brody Wiginton, tore an ACL and meniscus on 6 December 2025 against LaPorte. Earlier seasons of the log were not read in this section; the reached end backward is Davis, 2018–19.

The league's own managers and commissioners. The ORWBL was founded in January 2007 by Jared Emmons and Koby Keck. The record names Alex Friedman as the league's second Commissioner, taking office 1 January 2016 — the first commissioner's name is not stated in that passage and is not supplied here (Keck served as Championship commissioner in the 2010 record; the two offices are not merged). Friedman simultaneously managed the Maple City Magic, still its "skipper" in 2021, and was NWLA National Commissioner of the Year in 2018. Deputy Commissioners: Aidan Cotter, the Olive Township Mechanics' manager, the league's first deputy, October 2018; Griffin Smith, the Granger Panthers' manager, January 2020. Team managers the record names include Friedman (Maple City), Smith (Granger), Cotter (Olive Township Mechanics) and Anthony Rieff (South Bend Muffs, 2018).

Sources:

1. Indiana high school football coaching records, indianahsfootball.homestead.com (read 2026-11-11) — Bart Curtis's New Prairie seasons, 1997–2007.
2. Indiana Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame record for Russ Radtke (read 2026-11-11) — eight years at New Prairie; career sequence and totals.
3. Sports Michiana, 4 February 2025 (read 2026-11-11) — Casey McKim, five years, 48–17, departure for Lowell.
4. WIMS, 20 March 2025, carrying the New Prairie United Schools announcement (read 2026-11-11) — Ryan O'Shea's hiring, board approval 19 March 2025. Settles GAP-NC5-SPO-2.
5. IHSAA Softball Records Book and 2022–23 State Finals Program (read 2026-11-11) — Tim Scott (2006 final), Derek Hicks (sixth year, 2023).
6. South Bend Tribune, 2 and 28 April 2026 (read 2026-11-11) — the Litka resignation and the Curless appointment; Tribune coverage May–June 2026 — Schellinger in post; Tribune, 12 December 2025 — Drew Lutz.
7. John Harrell's Indiana girls' and boys' basketball season logs for New Prairie (read 2026-11-11) — the Shead-through-Litka and Davis-through-Lutz successions, season by season.
8. Old Republic Wiffle®Ball League, "Memorable Moments," orwbl.net (read 2026-11-11) — Friedman, Cotter, Smith, Rieff.