Winchester’s Tyler Koch picks Wright State
The junior’s choses Raiders program over scholarship offer from Ball State, Evansville
By SCOTT DUNCAN
sduncan@muncie.gannett.com

Each time Winchester’s Tyler Koch went on a college visit, he and Winchester coach Chip Mehaffey went through the same routine. When Koch returned, Mehaffey asked the Winchester junior to rate the visit on a scale of 1-10.

After last week’s trip to Wright State University — Koch’s third to to the school — he came back and gave it a perfect 10.

Exactly one week after that visit, Koch decided to end his recruitment on Monday, giving a verbal commitment to Wright State head coach Brad Brownell and ending Ball State’s hopes of signing him. Koch plans to sign his letter of intent during the early signing period in November.

Koch chose Wright State over scholarship offers from Ball State and Evansville. He also had received significant interest from Michigan.

“Everything it had to offer I liked,” said Koch, who has led the Golden Falcons to two consecutive Class 2A state runner-up finishes. “The location, the coaches, the academics, the size of the school. Everything.”

Crucial in Wright State’s recruitment of Koch was Wright State’s early involvement. The Raiders’ coaching staff was the first to extend a scholarship offer to Koch. That offer came after Winchester’s 59-34 victory against Yorktown on Jan. 22.

“It meant a lot because they followed me the longest,” Koch said. “But at the same time they respected me and let me focus on the high school season. They never bugged me or pushed me into a decision.”

Ball State and Evansville both offered Koch after the high school basketball season concluded.

Ball State coach Billy Taylor was a fixture at Winchester’s postseason games. He was on hand for Koch’s 31-point performance in the Golden Falcons’ semistate win against Evansville Mater Dei, and he was in attendance for Koch’s 37-point, record-setting game in the 2A state finals against Fort Wayne Luers.

Michigan had not extended an offer to Koch, but Wolverines head coach John Beilein visited Winchester last week to watch the junior work out.

“In the end, the decision just came to me,” Koch said. “Being from a small town kid, I didn’t think I could see myself in a big school type of environment. Wright State isn’t too big or too small.”

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