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IUPUI men’s basketball coach resigns after arrest on OWI charge

IUPUI men’s basketball coach resigns after arrest

News 8 at 6 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — News 8 has learned the IUPUI men’s basketball coach has resigned after he was arrested Monday on a preliminary charge of operating while intoxicated in Fishers.

Sources told News 8’s Anthony Calhoun on Tuesday afternoon that Jason Gardner resigned.

Gardner, 38, had coached at IUPUI since 2014, went to North Central High School and won the 1999 Indiana Mr. Basketball Award. He was entering his sixth season as IUPUI’s head coach with a 64-93 career record.

Gardner was arrested about 5 a.m. by the Fishers Police Department. He was released Tuesday on his own recognizance. IUPUI said they are aware of the situation and are looking into it. They have not made an announcement of Gardner’s resignation.

Fishers Police Department said officers were sent about 4:30 a.m. to check on the welfare of a driver of a 2016 Nissan passenger car stopped in the road at the intersection of Cumberland Road and Bruddy Drive. That’s just south of 141st Street.

Police found Gardner asleep behind the wheel of the stopped vehicle. Officers unsuccessfully tried to wake him before they entered the car and took it out of gear. Gardner awoke as officers entered the car. They had him exit the car and noticed him stagger with an odor of an alcoholic beverage. Gardner failed several standardized field sobriety tests.

He was taken to the Hamilton County Jail without incident and given a blood test. Toxicology were pending.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office will have the final decision on criminal charges. No information on Gardner’s had been filed in online court records by midafternoon Tuesday.

Radio station WIBC, a newsgather partner of WISH-TV, contributed to this report.