Coaching Staff

Within the athletics program at Indiana Tech you will find only the best coaches with a proven record of success for themselves and their student athletes on and off the field.

Get to know Coach Hamilton

Rodney Hamilton is in his third year as the head women’s basketball coach at Indiana Tech.

In his second year, Hamilton guided the Warriors to a 16-win season and were very tough to beat at home, posting an 11-4 record during the regular season in the Schaefer Center. The 16 wins are tied for the most in a single season since 2005 and only the third time the Lady Warriors have reached that mark since 2003. Among those wins were victories over two Top 25 opponents, the No.5 and No.14-ranked teams in the country. The 2010-11 season was also the first time since 2005 that Tech finished in the top half of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. The Warriors finished 4th with a record of 8-8 in conference play and were able to host the first round of the Conference Tournament. Indiana Tech had an impressive four athletes earn the 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes award and eight athletes to make the All-WHAC Academic team in the 2010-2011 season. According to our Team Scholar report the women’s Basketball team finished the 2010-2011 season with a team GPA of 3.33.

During his first year at the helm, the Lady Warrior basketball program looked to be headed in the right direction with the team collecting the most conference and overall wins since the 2005-06 season. The Lady Warriors had a couple of highlight wins during the 2009-10 season, beating two teams that finished as the #18 and #25 teams in the final national Top 25 poll. The Lady Warriors finished the 2009-2010 season with several national rankings in NAIA Division II: 28th in free throw percentage (0.720), 48th in total steals (324), and 48th in steals per game (10.452).

Hamilton came to Fort Wayne after serving two seasons as an assistant men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University, a NCAA Division I program in the Ohio Valley Conference. Hamilton's primary duties as an assistant coach included those of recruiting coordinator, which involved all aspects of recruiting in- and out-of-state student-athletes for the men’s basketball program. He assured policy compliance for the NCAA and scheduled exhibitions, games, and tournaments for the program. He was involved in on-court player development pre-season, in season and post-season, managed film exchange procedures in compliance with the OVC conference rule and regulations, and was involved in film breakdown for scouting and game strategies. Hamilton implemented community service projects for men’s basketball and served as the team academic liaison.

Before SEMO, Hamilton was part of the first coaching staff at Crichton College in 2005 when the Comets joined the NAIA TranSouth Conference. During his first season at Crichton College, the men’s basketball team enjoyed a 15-game turnaround from the previous season. Crichton finished 18-12 overall, 3rd in TranSouth Conference and was ranked as high as 13th in the NAIA Top 25 National Ranking. The 2006-07 Crichton College team made the NAIA Division I National Tournament and advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight after winning the TranSouth Conference regular season and tournament championships in only the second season. The team finished with a 28-8 regular and post-season record; 15-3 in the TranSouth Conference. Crichton was ranked nationally during the course of the year being #25, #22, and #21.  After beating the #6 and #12 teams and having a 13-game win streak, the Comets finished #7 in the nation in the NAIA poll. At Crichton, Hamilton was also the inaugural head coach of the women's cross country team that began competing in the 2006-07 season and placed 2nd in the TranSouth Conference.

Hamilton began his coaching career as the head boys’ basketball coach, head girls’ track coach and cross country coach at Westside High School in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., in 2001. He spent four years leading the Wildcats in the 15AA Memphis City Schools District and led Westside High School to the Regional 8 AA tournament.

Prior to his nine seasons as a basketball coach he played professionally for three seasons. In 1998 he participated in the Atlanta Hawks Free Agent Training Camp.  He went on to play in Sweden, Switzerland, and Hungary. In his first year in Sweden he took the Alvik Stockholm Team to the finals in the playoffs. He was selected as one of the Top 5 Import Players and Guard of the Year and also led Alvik to its first Swedish-Finnish Championship.

Hamilton played collegiately at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga., where he lettered all four seasons and had the opportunity to play for the legendary Coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell during his senior season. Hamilton holds the university’s records for scoring (1,515 points), free throw percentage (.838), assists (535), steals (212), and games started (105).  He was a two-time All-Atlantic Sun Conference selection, earning first team and ASC All-Tournament honors in 1998. He was named second team All-ASC in 1997 and garnered Academic All-ASC both years. Hamilton was the first GSU player to have his jersey number retired. He was honored by the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) on January 30th, 2007 at halftime of his alma mater as a CAA Legend. This is an honor that the conference hands out once per season to a men's basketball player that exemplifies the CAA.

Hamilton earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Georgia State University in 1998, and Master of Arts in Teaching from Christian Brothers University in 2003.

Hamilton and his wife, Tamara, are the parents of two daughters, Bailey Madison and Brooke McKenzie.

Assistant Coaches

 

 

Ragukonis is entering her fourth year as the head junior varsity coach for the Indiana Tech women's basketball program. Ragukonis was a four-year varsity starter for South Bend Riley High School, where she averaged more than 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for her career. She was selected as a South Bend Tribune All-Star, First Team All-Conference, and among the Top 100 Seniors in 2001. Ragukonis still holds the record for the most 3-pointers in a game.

Ragukonis played basketball at Manchester College and then transferred to the University of Saint Francis to play basketball and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and secondary education. She currently teaches middle school special education at Imagine Master Academy in Fort Wayne. She lives in Fort Wayne, Ind.

 

 

Lochhead is entering his second year as a graduate assistant coach for the Indiana Tech women's basketball program.

Lochhead brings four years of coaching experience from the men’s basketball team at Southeast Missouri State University where his main responsibilities included on-campus recruiting efforts, film exchange, correspondence, team travel and assisting with summer camps.

He worked under Coach Rodney Hamilton from 2007-2009. During that time Lochhead’s responsibilities were to oversee the operations of the Show Me Center, the Redhawks’ on-campus practice facility, as well as handle the distribution of equipment and apparel to the coaches and players. Lochhead also handled all video operations as it pertained to taping games, practices and supervising day-to-day video needs .

Lochheed, a native of Chester, Ill., received his undergraduate degree in middle school education in 2010 at Southeast Missouri State University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in organizational leadership at Indiana Tech.

 

 

Poindexter is entering his second year as an undergraduate assistant coach for the Indiana Tech women's basketball program.

Poindexter brings eight years of experience as coach of the Memphis Blazers, a 19U Senior Boys National AAU Team. He is coming off a 34-5 season in which he led his team to a 19U AAU Final Four appearance and finished third in the nation. During the summer the Memphis Blazers also won the AAU Super Regionals held in Cincinnati.

Poindexter has had three 30-plus win seasons and has finished in the top 10 nationally three times, never finishing lower than 13th in the country. In all eight years he has never suffered a losing season and has placed more than 70 players in NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and junior college ranks. Poindexter finished with a career record of 214 wins and only 57 losses in his 8 years of coaching the Memphis Blazers.

 

 

Williams is entering her first year as an undergraduate assistant coach for the Indiana Tech women’s basketball program.

Williams is a Fairfield, OH native who played all four seasons at Indiana Tech and was captain during her senior year at Tech. During her career as a Lady Warrior, Williams was named 2010 WHAC Champion of Character award and voted by her teammates for two consecutive years winning the Team Spirit Award during 2010 and 2011.

Williams played for Coach Hamilton her last 2 years. “Lesley was a pleasure to have as a player and will be an asset to our program in helping the current players and new additions. She was known for being that positive voice in practice, during games on the court or bench, in the huddles, and in the locker room. We will need that even more this year as she begins helping on the sidelines." Hamilton said.

With her outgoing personality, understanding of the game, and the knowledge she has learned over the last couple of years, Lesley will be able to help the Indiana Tech women’s basketball program continue to move in the right direction.

Williams received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education on May 14th, 2011 and will be student teaching in the fall of 2011.

 

 

O'Dell is entering her first year as an undergraduate assistant coach for the Indiana Tech basketball program.

O'Dell is a Mount Morris, MI native who played four seasons for the lady warriors. During her career, O'Dell was a shooting guard/forward, and an NAIA scholar athlete (2010), proving she knows what it takes to get work done on as well as off the court.

She was a very versatile player during her basketball career with her outside shooting abilities and inside game. She has a tremendous amount of basketball knowledge and understanding of the game, making her a vital asset to the program. Hamilton said, “Leslie is an extremely hard working and dedicated student athlete. She represents the meaning of student athlete to the fullest. I fill she will help the returning and new additions in that facet of our program by helping them understand the balance of hard work and dedication on the court and in the classroom.”

O'Dell received her Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Manufacturing Engineering on May 14th 2011. She will be completing her senior project for the industrial manufacturing engineering department during the fall of 2011.