This Week in Wrenball: Fisch or Cut Bait

I have never in my adult sporting life experienced a situation quite like what's happened with the William & Mary hoops program over the past three weeks. In a nutshell, the ambitious young athletic director fired the school's best-ever coach to a resounding chorus of 'what the fuck are you doing' and proceeded to botch the hiring of the next coach to the point where it was obvious to everyone that the Tribe had failed and failed and failed again to land its top choices.

While all this was happening, five of the team's top seven returning players announced their intent to explore their transfer options, while a sixth, all-CAA center Nathan Knight, declared himself eligible for the NBA draft.

It was, to put it succinctly, a goddamn mess.

Yesterday, the school announced that 39 year-old Dane Fischer has been hired as the 31st coach in W&M history. Fischer, who's been an assistant coach for the entirety of his 16-year coaching career, has been on the bench at George Mason for the past four years. Prior to that, he worked with Mason head coach Dave Paulsen at Bucknell and Rider.

Fischer is a highly-regarded young coach, lauded as a very effective recruiter and a gifted offensive mind. Our man in Fairfax, the one who looks like Scott Hamilton and is on texting terms with Paulsen, says the Mason coach expects Fischer to do very well as a head coach.

And in his opening remarks as the Tribe head man, Fischer sounded all the right notes:



In particular, I was curious to see whether Fischer referenced his predecessor, Tony Shaver. He did, in a gracious manner. If nothing else, Fischer gives good press conference. AD Samantha Huge and President Katherine Rowe stretched the bounds of credulity, though, in repeatedly insisting that W&M's new hoops priorities included winning championships, but continuing to compete the right way. We had a coach that competed the right way, and he was the most successful CAA head man over the past six seasons, his only failure having the dice come up snake-eyes during the annual tournament crapshoot.

I wish Fischer no ill will. In fact, I hope he's wildly successful. But as I said on Twitter earlier today, just don't ask me to he happy for him. Doing so, at least now, feels like a betrayal of Shaver, the coach who gave us hope where none existed previously.

Win one for Tony

None of the players who've taken steps to explore their options outside Williamsburg have actually decided to leave, so Fischer's first order of business will be to demonstrate his prowess as a recruiter and coax them back into the fold. If he succeeds, W&M will enter next season with one of its best teams in years. If not, his first few seasons may test his faith and the patience of an obviously impatient athletic director.

When Fischer rolls the balls out in October and preps his team for a new season, I'll be rooting for them. Unlike my Twitter acquaintance @JeffACherry, who said earlier, "Personally I hope they lose every game next year.", I haven't the luxury of cheering for poor results for the Green and Gold. And if Samantha Huge's bold (ill-advised, rash, tone-deaf?) move pays off in an NCAA Tournament bid, I'll be thrilled for the kids and for generations of W&M players and fans. If that unlikely event comes to pass, I sure hope Tony Shaver is there to see it.