Irmo picks familiar face to replace outgoing hall of fame basketball coach
Irmo High School is staying within its basketball family for its next boys coach.
Assistant Alex Quillen will be the Yellow Jackets’ new coach and replace hall of famer Tim Whipple, who retired in May after 43 years of coaching.
Whipple won 848 games, second most in state history behind former Great Falls coach John Smith’s 943. He also won six state championships at Irmo, with the last coming in 2023.
“For the past 15 years I pretty much lived and died with Irmo basketball,” Quillen told The State. “Playing for Whipple and then coming back to coach. I always thought this would be a possibility once coach Whipple would retire. Coach Whipple has been one of the best coaches ever in South Carolina so there definitely pressure. But I think I have the mindset to continue the legacy he has left here.”
Quillen and Whipple shared an office the last few years and spent countless hours talking about the game of basketball. The former Irmo guard said some of the biggest things he learned from Whipple was his work ethic and building relationships with the players.
“Coach Whipple has been preparing me for this moment the last three or four years,” Quillen said.
Quillen played under Whipple and was part of two state championship teams in 2011 and 2023. He was a volunteer coach at Irmo during college from 2015-17 and on a full-time basis since 2020.
Quillen was a was a graduate assistant coach at Gardner-Webb before that.
“I am so excited about the future of the Irmo basketball program under the leadership of Alex Quillen. Alex is an energetic, hard-working and talented young man who has earned this opportunity to be the next head basketball coach at Irmo High School,” Whipple said in a school release. “Alex has a tremendous relationship with the student-athletes and cares deeply for them both on and off the basketball court. He has been instrumental in much of the success enjoyed by our program in the past decade. ... I can say with great Irmo Pride, there is no better person to carry on the Tradition of Excellence in our basketball program and school than Alex Quillen.”
Quillen said assistant Ricky Bouknight will remain on staff and be joined with Anton Greer and Dre Sweat. Another assistant coach might also be added. The Yellow Jackets finished with a 5-21 last season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Wilson. Irmo returns 10 of 12 players from last year’s squad and Quillen is excited about group of younger players coming up through the system.
This story was originally published June 11, 2024 at 9:07 AM.
