There is not any man extra synonymous with highschool basketball in Eastern Massachusetts than Bob Fisher.
Over the span of six many years, Fisher has patrolled the sidelines at three totally different faculties. He has gained a pair of state championships, reached Eastern Mass. and sectional finals, and witnessed up shut among the premier gamers to step foot within the Commonwealth. Now within the midst of his forty third season, Marshfield’s Fisher is a dozen wins away from changing into simply the second boys coach in Massachusetts highschool basketball historical past to amass 700 wins.
“It’s been quite the ride and I am still loving every moment of it each and every day,” Fisher mentioned.
Fisher went to Quincy High School after which Bentley University the place within the early Nineteen Sixties he helped discovered the Falcons’ athletic program. He performed for 4 years, was an assistant coach at Bentley whereas getting his masters, and grabbed a educating job in Bridgewater-Raynham. Then, in 1966, he started at Rockland because the college’s varsity baseball and assistant basketball coach underneath Scott MacKinlay. He took over the basketball reins in 1969.
“What I remember the most was my youthfulness and energy,” Fisher mentioned. “I was teaching so I was in the classroom with the kids who I was able to connect with right off the bat.”
Almost immediately, Fisher’s Bulldogs turned identified for his or her hearth. Fisher translated his enjoying days on the out of doors courts in Quincy rising up into a training model. His groups full-court pressured, attacked, punished, and wore down opponents. He confirmed his gamers what it meant to get after it by way of his personal means to combine in with practices.
“Fish instilled everything in you that was important,” Keith Dickson, who graduated from Rockland in 1975, mentioned. “He was such a great motivator. I haven’t been back to Rockland since 1975 but I always tell people, ‘you can take me out of Rockland but you cannot take the Rockland out of me.’”
The solely coach in Massachusetts with extra victories is Bob Foley, however Fisher holds the last word bragging rights. Fisher’s first state championship got here in 1972 when Rockland defeated Foley’s St. Peter-Marian group 85-81 at WPI. It’s the one assembly between the 2 winningest coaches in state historical past.
Fisher coached six extra seasons that included a visit to the Eastern Mass. Finals in 1975 and Sectional Finals in 1978 earlier than stepping away to develop into the varsity’s athletic director in 1979. He returned to the sideline in 1988 when the Rockland district allowed him to man each positions earlier than taking one other absence in 1994 for 3 years to look at his children play at Marshfield.
Through the mixed 12 years away from the bench, the sport underwent adjustments together with most notably within the early 80s the incorporation of the three-point line. Fisher stayed linked because the MIAA’s South Tournament Director within the 80s whereas additionally teaching his son’s youth and journey groups by way of the mid-90s.
“I was able to watch my kids grow which mattered so much to me as there was no chance I was going to coach against them,” Fisher mentioned. “In both instances the school allowed me to return and coach which I am so thankful for, and in both instances I was so encouraged and excited to get back.”
His closing stint at Rockland was as profitable as his first. In 1998 his crew went 24-0 earlier than falling to Weston within the Eastern Mass. Finals. In 2004, Fisher captured his second state championship. Led by star Joe Coppens the Bulldogs went on a magical run that included knocking off Lynn Tech and Springfield Commerce. The architect of the Bulldogs practically 4 many years price of success had seen and accomplished all of it.
He was prepared to provide it up.
“We just had won the state title and I thought it was all over with,” Fisher mentioned. “I was done coaching at Rockland. I was done being the athletic director. That was it. And then Eddie Miller at Quincy called me while I was sitting on a beach in Florida.”
Fisher took over his hometown Presidents within the fall of 2004 and noticed instantaneous success profitable the Old Colony League a 12 months after this system secured only one victory. His model of full courtroom stress stayed true to its roots however elsewhere he made changes. He sprinkled in some zone and allowed higher alternative for creativity in his offense. Kids have been changing into extra athletic and dynamic. Doug Scott, who notably scored 53 factors in a recreation at Quincy, was a main instance.
“When I first started it was my way or the highway. Everything was systems-based,” Fisher mentioned. “Over time, though, I’ve realized you can have the foundation but you cannot ruin a kid’s creativity as a player. You have to let them do their magic on the court. It’s good and it makes good things happen.”
Fisher had no intention of leaving Quincy till following the 2008 season when it was introduced the varsity would be a part of the Patriot League, making them a direct foe of Rockland. It was a deal-breaker to educate in opposition to his former crew.
“I refused to go on the opposite bench in that gym where I had started my basketball family,” Fisher mentioned. “That’s where my life really started. We won two state titles there. Hundreds of games. Those players were and are my family. I would not compete against them. No way.”
Ever since, Fisher has been the top coach at Marshfield. Former Rams athletic director Lou Silva employed Fisher after former coach Scott Madden stepped down. In every of his 16 seasons Fisher has led the Rams to the state event together with a 19-win season in 2011 and a Patriot League Keenan championship in 2022. The different division within the Patriot League is known as after him.
One of his sons, Brian, is the ladies coach at Hanover. He has been on the middle of three of Eastern Massachusetts’ most notable rivalries, watching up shut as Rockland and Abington traded blows, hundreds packed the health club to witness Quincy’s two neighboring faculties, and the Rams and Duxbury go for bragging rights.
At 81 years previous, Fisher holds a profession file of 687-219. His vitality is identical because it has at all times been. Fisher finds worth in his connectivity together with his gamers. He has gone to see Dickson — now the top males’s coach at Saint Anselm’s — compete on a number of events and brought a pair of journeys to see former gamers partake in area launches. They are his story.
The tenacity his gamers showcase on the courtroom practically 57 years after he began teaching stays a mirrored image of their chief. While the uniforms might have modified, his crew’s id stays.
“He made us more than we probably should have been,” Dickson mentioned. “His wife, Jane, has been by his side every step of the way. You cannot do it for this long without someone as supportive there that he has in her. She has helped him become the man he is, and we’re all lucky to have been coached by Fish but also to have met her.”
Like any coach who has been round for many years, Fisher will get the query frequently — ‘Is this your last year?’ If ardour and success is any indication, don’t maintain your breath. His groups have certified for the state event in every of his 42 seasons as head coach.
“Kids keep me young. My love for the game is still as strong as ever. I do not jump up and down like I used to, but I am blessed with energy,” Fisher mentioned. “When you lose that spark, that’s when it’s time.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com