Stan Daugherty

Stan Daugherty, the founder and director of Higher Level Sports, has been an educator and coach in Indiana for the last 38 years. Coach Daugherty began his career as the head basketball and baseball coach at Turkey Run High School in Marshall, Indiana. He won his first sectional championship in baseball in 1977, and became the youngest head basketball coach in Indiana at the age of 23. This began a run of head coaching jobs in basketball at four Indiana high schools over the next seventeen years.  At Marion Bennett, he was named the Grant County Coach of the Year in 1979-80.  He then moved to Elwood for three years, before being named the head coach at Delta High School. From 1983-89, Coach Daugherty won three Delaware County titles and two Sectional Championships. He also coached Matt Painter, a 1989 Indiana All-Star and the current head basketball coach at Purdue University. In 1990, he moved to Hamilton Southeastern High School.  In his first year there, Stan led the team to a 19-3 record and was named the Hoosier Heritage Conference Coach of the Year, as his team captured the conference championship.

In 1994, after four years at Hamilton Southeastern, Coach Daugherty was named the Associate Head Coach at Anderson University. He spent eight years at Anderson, including the span of his son Travis’s four-year career. During that time, he founded Higher Level Sports Ministries and began to conduct camps throughout the Midwest. In 2001, Coach Daugherty was named the head coach at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. He began building the program, and within three years led the Maple Leafs to a school record 21 wins.  He followed that year with another 21-win season and was named the Mid-Central Conference Coach of the Year for 2005; in the 2006-2007 season, he surpassed the all-time record for wins in Goshen College men’s basketball history.  In the spring of 2007, Coach Daugherty returned to Delta High School as the Athletic Director and served in that role for three years. He then returned to coaching, taking over the boys basketball program at Delta in 2010, and leading the team to a sectional championship in his first season at the helm.  Coach Daugherty has retired from coaching and directs the Delta Learning Center for student credit recovery.

“I am excited for the new vision for Higher Level Sports.  As I have worked in athletics for over thirty-eight years, I have seen a real need to help athletes develop relationship-building skills and leadership skills.  As both of my boys have entered the coaching ranks, we have had several discussions about how to help our players grow in these areas.  It is with this background and experience that Higher Level Sports continues to grow, working toward creating an environment at camps that will use our experiences and studies to help elevate lives and leaders.”

Coach Daugherty has been married for over 40 years to Brenda ( Zarse ), his high school sweetheart.  They have three adult children; Amber Hudson, Travis Daugherty and Trevor Daugherty.  They spend as much time as they can with their five grandchildren and families and reside in Pendleton, Indiana.

Travis Daugherty

Travis Daugherty currently serves as the Head Boys Basketball Coach at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, IN.  In his nine seasons as a head coach, he has compiled a career record of 118 wins and 85 losses.  Daugherty's head coaching career started at Tipton High School from 2004-2009, where his teams won back-to-back sectional and conference championships.  In 2008, he received the Indiana Basketball Coach's Association Bob King Coach of the Year award.  From 2009-2013, Travis served as the Head Coach at Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, and he enters his first season at Mt. Vernon in 2013-14.

Travis has served on the Higher Level leadership team since its inception, and looks forward to his camp experiences every year.  "I know that camp is a blessing to the families who attend each summer, but ultimately I'm the one who always ends up learning and growing as much as anyone," he said.  "I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a unique experience for families."

In addition to coaching responsibilities, Travis also serves as a high school English teacher at Mt. Vernon.  His most important job in life is his role as a husband and father.  He and his wife, Jessica, were married in 2003 and have three children:  Aden (8), Owen (6), and Leah (3).  They live in Indianapolis.

Trevor Daugherty

Trevor Daugherty was the Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Coach for seven seasons at Bethany Christian High School in Goshen, IN. Throughout his tenure at Bethany, the boys basketball team has enjoyed multiple 14+ win seasons while posting some of the best defensive scoring averages in school history. Bethany’s 2010 season featured a run of 10 straight victories, while giving up fewer than 42 points per contest.

Involved with Higher Level for over a decade, Trevor has found the experience of working with so many different families to be very rewarding. “One of my favorite parts of the Higher Level experience is the ability to meet and connect with new families,” he said.  “While basketball may be the reason for our interactions, it really is the relationships that make it a meaningful experience for me.”

Trevor currently writes for 9to5Toys, an online publication that focuses on technology news and deals. Married Breanna Lange in 2010, the couple resides in Archbold, OH.