Earlier this spring, a Brother from Franklin College of Indiana was named Indiana State’s ninth head coach for the women’s basketball program.
Chad Killinger (’97) has worked his way to the Division 1 level of collegiate head coaching. It was not easy, taking him 25 years to reach this point.
“Basketball was always my favorite sport growing up,” Killinger said. “I can remember in high school sitting in study hall drawing up plays talking basketball with the boy’s basketball coach. I watched the NCAA tournament growing up, and I was more focused on the coaches and what they were doing and the adjustments they were making. It got to a point one time when I wasn’t even rooting for teams but the coach.”
THE JOURNEY
Killinger began his coaching career while he was an active SAE at Franklin College. He was a student assistant and volunteer assistant. While working for his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education with an emphasis in Athletic Training, he was a coach for the Bloomington Red AAU Basketball program, one of the top AAU programs around the Midwest.
Killinger was on the school’s baseball team as a freshman, which is how he got involved with the Franklin chapter due to some teammates already being brothers of SAE.
“It’s interesting going through because I was one of those people who thought going to college I never thought I’d join a fraternity, that’s just not me,” Killinger said. “There’s a stereotype of fraternity guys and sorority girls, and I don’t really think that was the case at Franklin, and I’m glad I went into it with enough of an open mind to be a part of it because some of my favorite memories from college in those days, in that house, come from talking about a lot of different things with those guys.”
“The camaraderie that we had at our house at Franklin College was pretty incredible. As a college student, things aren’t always perfect for you, so having people to talk to that maybe have been through the same things, especially as a freshman, was big for me.”
