LAPEL — After announcing he was stepping away from the program in late June, Zach Newby has decided to return as head coach of the Lapel girls basketball team.

With the Lapel athletic department and the school corporation gearing up to start the search for Newby’s successor, his mind changed on the decision he made just over a month ago.

In six seasons with Newby at the helm, the Bulldogs have a 105-47 record and have had five winning seasons.

His team posted 16-8, 17-7, 10-11 and 17-8 records in his first four campaigns, but the programs success under Newby really reached its peak over the past two seasons.

In 2023, he led the Lapel girls to their first semistate title and the school’s first state championship appearance in the sport.

In 2024, they lost just five games and returned to the semistate.

During the last two years, the Bulldogs had a 45-13 record.

In both 2023 and 2024, the Bulldogs captured Madison County, sectional and regional titles. The county titles were the first since 2008 and the sectional and regional crowns were the program’s first since 2007.

Following the 2023 season, Newby was named the 2023 Bob King District 2 Coach of the Year by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. He coached the Indiana Junior All-Star team that season.

A 2006 graduate of Lapel, Newby was a four-year member of the basketball program and played for coaches Derek Shelton, Tim Hillenbrand and Jimmie Howell.

He then attended Ball State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 2010.

Newby returned to Lapel, serving as an assistant coach in Howell’s boys program for three seasons, in Kevin Brattain’s girls program for four seasons, and back in Howell’s boys program for one more season before becoming the girls head coach in spring 2018.

Along with teaching at the school, Newby serves as the assistant athletic director