(KENDALLVILLE) - The East Noble School Corporation has hired Ed Bentley as its new boys basketball coach. Bentley will take over the team immediately following a misconduct scandal involving former coach, Brandon Durnell. WANE 15 confirmed the misconduct involves inappropriate messages sent by Durnell to players. The messages show Durnell wearing only underwear and include sexualized comments. When school officials found out about the messages on September 26th, Durnell was immediately placed on leave. The board later voted to terminate him from his position as coach and assistant athletic director. Durnell's name has been removed from the school's online staff directory and athletic webpage. East Noble turned over the findings of its internal review of the incident to law enforcement for further investigation. A fellow coach at East Noble defended Durnell on a Facebook post, stating the messages were a joke.
The new coach, Bentley, previously coached at Angola, where he led the Hornets to sectional titles in 2016, 2018, and 2019. Bentley has also coached at Westview and Eastside High Schools, and has been working as an assistant coach at Trine University since 2023.