Mike Hamacher can’t say enough about his time at Griffith.

Hamacher spent the last two seasons as the Panthers’ junior varsity girls basketball coach under Tom Golumbeck.

Hamacher calls Golumbeck his mentor. And now Hamacher calls him the reason he’s heading off on his own.

On Thursday, the 30-year-old Hamacher was named the Hobart girls basketball coach.

“The last couple years of coaching under coach Golumbeck have really prepared me to be a head coach,” Hamacher said. “He knew this was a dream of mine and did a lot to prepare me.”

Hamacher replaces Kristen Peterson at Hobart. Peterson left to take over the Portage girls program.

The Brickies finished 10-11 last season and went 5-2 in the Lake Athletic Conference Black Division, finishing behind first-place Highland.

“I’m very excited to go into a situation where things aren’t broken,” Hamacher said. “Things are pretty good over there as it stands now.

“I feel like I can step in and we can be competitive right away. I have a lot of respect for what the coaches before me have done and the program they created.”

Hobart athletic director Bob Glover also is excited to have Hamacher on board. Glover pointed to the summer league Hamacher helped create this year at Griffith.

Before the Griffith league began this year, the closest summer league program was in Chesterton.

Prior to joining Golumbeck’s staff at Griffith, Hamacher was the junior varsity coach at Merrillville for a year. He’s also worked at the middle school level and was a seventh- and eighth-grade boys basketball coach in the Merrillville system under Jim East.

“As far as organization and middle school philosophies go and how you deal with those programs, I can take a lot away from my experience under coach East,” Hamacher said. “He did a great job directing us.”

Hamacher also has been the girls golf coach at Merrillville the past two seasons. At Hobart, he will teach sociology and U.S. history.

Tom Wyatt can be reached at 648-3140 or by e-mail at twyatt@post-trib.com.