Tim Whipple, legendary Irmo basketball coach, is calling it a career

One of the greatest high school basketball coaches in South Carolina history is calling it a career.

Irmo’s Tim Whipple is retiring after 43 years of coaching, two sources with direct knowledge of the decision told The State on Tuesday. He was informing his players of the news Tuesday morning.

Whipple won 848 games, second most in state history behind former Great Falls coach John Smith’s 943. He also won six state championships at Irmo, with the last coming in 2023.

Whipple talked about the prospect of retirement following the Yellow Jackets’ February playoff loss to Wilson.

“I don’t know,” Whipple said about returning for his 44th season. “It is not something that I have given a whole lot of thought at this point and time. We have tried to focus on making this team better and getting the most out of them. That is one of the ways I have measured my career as a coach. I feel like in my whole coaching career, the whole has been better than the parts. It is a goal I always have.”

Whipple won a state championship in four different decades, and Irmo’s six titles rank in the top 15 for most in state history. More than 40 of Whipple’s players have gone on to play college basketball, and some became college coaches. Brooks Savage is head coach at East Tennessee, while BJ McKie is an assistant at Wake Forest.

Whipple began his career as an assistant coach at Lexington High after graduating from Erskine College. After Lexington, he was a JV coach at Winnsboro High before landing at Irmo. The Spring Valley grad spent two seasons as Irmo JV coach before being promoted to head coach in the 1981-82 season.

Speaking on the Lost Letterman podcast in 2021, Whipple talked about those early years setting the tone of what was to come for the Yellow Jackets program.

“I have a basketball from 1981 and it says ‘laying the foundation,’ ” Whipple said. “That is what we were doing then, laying the foundation for the future. I never knew we were going to get there. But it was the start. Every young man that played on those teams before we arrived, I give them credit. They didn’t reap the benefits, but they can look back and see it. They come and look up at the banners when they visit and that means a lot to them.”

That foundation helped build one of the top programs in the Columbia area for the past four decades. Irmo made the postseason in 40 of Whipple’s 43 years at the helm.

Irmo’s first championship team in 1991 featured Marvin Orange, who went on to win the 1992 S.C. Gatorade Player of the Year and play at Alabama.

Irmo went more than a decade between championships and won it all again in 2011. Two years later, the Yellow Jackets won it again with Detrek Browning and Justin McKie, BJ’s son, leading the way. Irmo went 29-0 and finished the year ranked No. 13 in the USA Today Top 25.

Irmo’s last championship came in 2023 as the Yellow Jackets got a boost from the return of center Brandon Crawford, who missed time earlier in the season but was healthy at the end of the year. The Yellow Jackets knocked off Hartsville in the state semifinal before defeating Lancaster at the USC Aiken Convocation Center.

“This entire year, we have tried to live in the moment. We haven’t looked ahead and we haven’t looked behind,” Whipple said. after the game. “We haven’t let the good things or the bad things bother us. We never looked at what was ahead and took care of business.

“Right now, I am living in the moment, and I am having a hard time with this. But I am trying to enjoy this moment the best I can because this is a special group of young men. I am so happy for Irmo High School and our community that we are able to bring home a state championship trophy.”