Tim Isgrig has been named Washington High School’s new varsity boys basketball coach. The hire was approved by the Board of Education on Wednesday, March 20. He replaces Grant Young, who resigned following the 2023-24 basketball season. Young will remain the school’s softball coach.
Isgrig is a 2002 graduate of Washington High School. He was a three-sport athlete for the Blue Jays, playing soccer, basketball and baseball. He was an assistant boys basketball coach at Washington under Greg Dunigan, which included the 2008 team that won a district championship. He will teach alternative education at Washington High School.
“I’m really excited. I grew up at the bottom of the hill from the high school on Old Orchard Court. My brother was the point guard at Washington when I was in fourth and fifth grade, and I’ve been watching games there ever since,” Isgrig said. “It’s really exciting to come back and be the head coach at the school I graduated from. Playing for Coach Dunigan, it was my junior year that I decided that I wanted to be a head basketball coach. It’s always been my goal to be the head basketball coach at Washington at some point.”
Isgrig has been with the St. Clair R-XIII School District for the last 16 years. He’s currently the head boys basketball coach and the head girls soccer coach. He’s also been an assistant coach for boys soccer and baseball and has coached junior high basketball. He teaches seventh-grade health, eighth-grade American History and a Leadership class at St. Clair Junior High. He attended Missouri State University in Springfield and has a Bachelor’s degree in education.
“We are excited to have Coach Isgrig be the next head boys basketball coach at Washington High School. He brings a passion for the both the game and all Blue Jay Athletics. As an alumni, he is excited to build a program at Washington High School,” said Washington High School Activities Director Bill Deckelman. “We plan to get Coach Isgrig over to Washington to meet his returning players and start laying the foundation for what comes next.”
Isgrig is anxious to get started with the WHS boys basketball program.
“Grant coached there for a long time and did a really good job with the kids. He always had well-coached, disciplined teams. I get to coach with Adam (Fischer) and Coach (Ben) Hornback and Coach (Matt) McCarthy. I’ve known Adam for over 20 years and I actually work with Matt right now at St. Clair. I don’t know Coach Hornback really well yet, but I’ve heard a lot of really good things about him. Michael Hinrichs, who just got the assistant principal job at the middle school, I also worked with him at St. Clair and went to college with him. I was looking forward to him being the eighth-grade coach, but he has a great opportunity in administration,” Isgrig said.
“I was probably at eight to 10 of Washington’s games this past season and watched a few more on live stream. There’s always been a lot of pride in the program. Coach Dunigan, Coach (Chip) Sodemann and Grant, they’ve always had well-coached teams,” Isgrig said. “I think we’re going to have a hard-nosed, tough team. We’re not going to back down from anybody. We’re going to have to be better on the defensive side of the ball. I know a little about the personnel, but can’t say too much until I have a few practices with them. It’ll be nice to coach my nephew (Nolan Wieland). I’ve always watched him in his games while he’s growing up. It will be different coaching him now, but I look forward to it. I’m excited to get there and meet everyone because I need to get to know these kids so I can coach them.”
Isgrig will hit the ground running with his new program as soon as his current school year at St. Clair ends.
“We’re going to compete every night. We’re going to play harder than any team we play against. We’re going to be good teammates and be able to rely on each other and trust each other,” Isgrig said. “The plan is to be a really good man-to-man team. Offensively, we want to play together, share the ball and get the best shot we can every time. The biggest thing is effort, attitude and be coachable. Those are the things we’ll expect every day.
“Our sophomore class is talented. A lot of them saw varsity playing time. I watched the seventh and eighth grade teams play a few times his past season. We’ll have a camp at the end of May, which I’m looking forward to. We’ll play in Union on Monday nights during the summer. We’re going to get in the gym and get better. My biggest thing this summer is having them hear my voice and get to know me. I want to build relationships with them. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Grant Young
Young was head coach of the boys basketball program at Washington High School for 11 seasons. He amassed 132 wins at WHS, which is tied for the most in program history with Greg Dunigan.
Young has coached girls basketball at Union, Wheatland, Neosho and Purdy. He also coached the Wheatland boys. Young led Purdy to the Class 2 state basketball championship in 2011. He also served as Purdy’s athletic director.
Young started his coaching career at Wheatland High School, where he was athletic director and coached both the boys and girls basketball teams.
For his basketball coaching career, Young accumulated 385 wins to go with seven district titles, two trips to the Final Four and one state championship.
Tim Isgrig