Irmo did not have to search far to find its next basketball coach.

Alex Quillen, the school’s old JV coach and a former player, will replace the legendary Tim Whipple, who retired in May as a six-time state champion and the second-winningest coach in South Carolina basketball history.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to take over the Irmo High School basketball program,” Quillen said. “This is and always has been a dream job for me.”

Quillen has been part of three state championships at Irmo, including two as a player. He played under Whipple and won in 2011 and 13, and was part of the coaching staff during the team’s 2023 state championship.

“Being an Irmo graduate, I have seen first-hand how amazing this community can be and how special this basketball program is,” Quillen said. “We want to win at the highest level and prepare these young men to be successful on and off the floor. I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence we have here at Irmo.”

After graduating from Irmo, Quillen attended the University of South Carolina before leaving to get a master’s degree in sports pedagogy from Gardner Webb University. At the same time, he was serving as a volunteer coach at Irmo before beginning a graduate assistantship at Gardner Webb.

“Irmo Athletics is excited to announce one of our own as the next head varsity boys basketball coach,” said Paul Calvert, the school’s athletic director. “Coach Alex Quillen has prepared his entire career for this moment and will lead the program into the future with all of the tradition and history in mind as well as a passion for continuing the championship culture developed by Coach Tim Whipple.”

The hire has Whipple’s stamp of approval. It will be the first time in over 40 years Irmo is led by a new head coach.

“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,” Whipple said. “Alex has a tremendous relationship with the student-athletes and cares deeply for them both on and off the basketball court.”

Quillen provides continuity to a program that is going through a rebuild. The team finished 5-21 last season and just snuck into the playoffs.

It won’t be the first time Irmo is looking to rebound from a down year. But it is the first time in a while that it will be doing it under new leadership.

“He has been instrumental in much of the success enjoyed by our program in the past decade,” Whipple said. “I have invested forty-three years of my life in the Irmo community, Irmo High School and the Irmo Basketball Program. 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.”