Former Carmel football coach John Hebert stays in Hamilton County, hired at Noblesville

Posted by Admin December 18, 2024 Football

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It did not take John Hebert long to get back into coaching high school football.

Hebert, who led Carmel to two Class 6A state championships and an 82-39 record during a 10-year tenure prior to resigning last month, was officially approved as the Noblesville football coach at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

“There are so many great things about Noblesville that I’m excited about,” Hebert said. “I feel great and want a challenge. It’s a growing community and it’s a football community. They’ve invested in the things that are needed for expectations. You just have to create the vision. It’s a breath of fresh air to feel their energy and their hope.”

Hebert, 54, said when he stepped down at Carmel it was “time for me to move on to the next challenge.” The 1989 Carmel graduate found it at neighboring Noblesville, which found itself looking for a coach when Dave Sharpe resigned in early November after posting a 14-38 record in five seasons.

Hebert, who led Carmel to 6A state titles in 2016 and ’19 and sectional titles each of his first six years, has coached and taught in the Carmel school system since 1995. He followed Kevin Wright as coach in 2015 and will now be succeeded by Wright, who was hired as Carmel’s coach on Nov. 26.

Noblesville athletic director Leah Woolridge said more than 50 candidates applied for the position.

“Coach Hebert rose to the top thanks to his strong relationships with athletes, families and the community, his high integrity, and his outstanding track record of winning,” Woolridge said. “His years of leadership in the 6A division and the caliber of the recommendations he has received from around the state made him the strongest choice, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him lead our Millers into their next football chapter.”

Carmel struggled to a 3-7 record last season and did not win a sectional title the past four seasons. Noblesville and Carmel are in different sectionals and have not played since the 2019 season. Carmel leads the all-time series 48-10.

Noblesville appears to have a lot in place for future success, including a state-of-the-art $14 million stadium that opened in 2022 with a capacity of 6,000. The Millers, a 2-8 team last year, have not won a sectional since 2000 or posted a winning record since 2001.

“Everybody has been aware of the shift in Noblesville at the youth level with the number of teams that have been really good,” Hebert said. “I have a son in seventh grade and have seen it firsthand, watching how much better those teams have been getting.”

Hebert said last year’s Noblesville team was closer to breaking through than the 2-8 record might appear. The Millers were within a touchdown in all seven Hoosier Crossroads Conference game except for one.

“If you look at every game, there was a familiar pattern of them being right in it, if not leading into the fourth quarter,” Hebert said. “Just a couple of plays here and there separated victory from defeat. I think there is a barrier there sometimes can develop when you expected it to happen and there is a lot of pressure to win. At the same time, there is a lot of perseverance and toughness to keep coming back every week and being committed to competing.”

Hebert said he wants to stay away from having negative feelings about how his tenure ended at Carmel or feeling like he has something to prove in his new position.

“I’m extremely excited to be part of a breakthrough with a program that is dying for it,” he said. “That’s the thing that really jumps out is the community excitement and people that really care and want to see it work. I can’t wait to get to work and get to know each of the players on the team and start building for a new day and a new standard.”

Hebert said he has not started on building a coaching staff yet. He plans to take an approach of listening to players, coaches and community members as he gets started.

“There’s a lot that I’ve reflected on,” Hebert said of the past few weeks. “The big issue we dealt with last year was injuries. I’ve definitely come to some conclusions on how to better prepare for those situations that are really out of your control. You have to safeguard for that and prepare players for more roles than you might expect so the team can move forward.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 270-4904.