Kyle Fisher was introduced as the 16th head men's basketball coach in Hutchinson Community College history on Wednesday afternoon at a news conference at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
"It's incredible to be named the next men's basketball coach at Hutchinson," Fisher said. "When I walk into this place, I'm in awe, so now when I walk in here and have an office in here, pinch me, because it's so special. I take a lot of pride in the seat I get to sit in and I will work as hard as I can to maintain the proud tradition of this program."
HutchCC athletic director Josh Gooch formally introduced Fisher to the Blue Dragon fans and media seated on Sam Butterfield Court.
"The next men's basketball coach at Hutch needed to be someone that could lead," Gooch said. "Someone that could lead the program in all aspects, someone that could respect the past accomplishments of Blue Dragon basketball, while having a vision of what it needed to be moving forward. The goal will always be to hang banners, and a national championship banner at that."
Fisher said the past couple of weeks have been pretty intense.
"It's been an emotional whirlwind," Fisher said. "I knew how special Hutchinson was, but I knew what we had built and I take pride in what we had built. The opportunity to be the head coach at Hutch was tremendous, so it's been going real fast, but we take a lot of pride in the way we do things and the people we want to surround ourselves with, so it's been a lot of fun."
Fisher comes to Hutchinson after five seasons as the head coach at Butler Community College in El Dorado, where he led the Grizzlies to a 113-42 record, including 78-34 in the Jayhawk Conference. Fisher led the Grizzlies to 20-plus wins four times in his five-year tenure.
Although it has been a whirlwind, Fisher was thrilled when he received the call from Gooch telling him it was his gig.
"Coach Gooch and I spent two days together where it seemed like we talked all day," Fisher said. "I was in Florida on family vacation when I officially accepted the job, so we started making arrangements to come back early and get to work. It was clear to me that this opportunity was too good to pass up, and I truly think we can do some great things with this program moving forward."
The Hutchinson Sports Arena is known to many as the mecca of junior college hoops, and Fisher is excited to call it home.
"I've got a lot of great memories in here on different sidelines in this conference," Fisher said. "It certainly is a big responsibility, you know a lot of people talk about rivalries and Hutch, but the reality of it is when you're at Hutch, everyone is your rival."
Fisher was the top assistant on the Coffeyville Community College team that won the 2021 NJCAA national championship on the Sports Arena floor.
Although Fisher is now officially the head coach, he knows there is still a lot of work to get done and it starts with getting his staff complete.
"The roster will take care of itself, but I want to make sure I have the right people around me," Fisher said. "If I have the right people in the room then we will be able to go find the right players that will fit our style and the way we want to play, and be able to meet our expectations as a staff and as a program."
Fisher hopes to have his coaching staff complete by later this week.
"I do see some clarity in a staff and being able to finalize that unofficially by the end of the weekend," Fisher said. "We'll be recruiting all the way through August. The good thing is there are still a lot of really good players available, and a lot of guys that will want to come play at a place like Hutch, so we'll get all of the right pieces in place."
While off the court, Fisher enjoys spending time with his wife, Kathryn, and daughters, Grace and Rose.
"They're everything to me," Fisher said. "The first thing I tell recruits when I meet them or they're on a visit is I'm about family and I'm about winning. The program and the players and their families are an extension of my family. We'll look out after them as if they're my own."