The Republic School District has tapped basketball coach Trevyor Fisher as its new activities and athletics director, replacing Greg Garton, who will retire at the end of the school year. Fisher will stay on as basketball coach for the 2017-18 season, but will hand those duties to someone else after this year. Fisher will officially take over the new job on July 1, 2018.
“I hope I’ve had a positive impact on kids who’ve been in our basketball program, and this would allow me to do that on a broader scale,” Fisher says of his new position.
Fisher came to Republic in 2012 and led the Tigers to state basketball championships in each of his first two seasons. He knows he’ll miss being on the sideline on game nights, but believes his new role will give him a similar opportunity.
“I think this allows me to stay in a competitive environment. When you’re involved in sports your whole life, still have that competitive fire and want to do your best and help coaches to lead their programs to be successful.”
Fisher will replace Garton, who is the longest-tenured activities director in the conference. Garton has been in the position for 21 years (and in the Republic School District for 27 years). He was also the high school basketball coach before transitioning into the AD role.
Garton says the same things that won Fisher the job as basketball coach will help him in his new job.
“I recommended him for hire for head basketball coach because of his knowledge, attention to detail, and his organizational skills. Those same skills are needed as the activities director,” Garton says. “He is respected as one of the top coaches in the state, and he understands what things need to be in place for a program to excel. He has demonstrated a great work ethic and always had his teams well prepared.”
For Fisher, the new position is about setting up coaches and students to have success, no matter their activity.
“That can be leadership, training, the best equipment we can find, facilities–just finding ways to help our coaches be successful and our students have every opportunity to be successful as well,” he says. “With the addition of the new activities facility, we’ll have facilities as good anyone in the state.”
Fisher spent several years as director of basketball operations at Missouri State University before coming to Republic, and he believes that experience will serve him well.
“Anything and everything that was involved with our basketball program that didn’t happen on the floor, I had a hand in. That’s academics, facilities, transportation, budgeting. That relates pretty well to this position,” he says. “There are going to be things that are new to me, and I’m going to reach out to different people within our district and around the district to try to do my best to accomplish those things.”
The first order of business for Fisher as AD will be working toward completion of the stadium on the high school campus. He’ll begin sitting in on construction meetings right away.
Fisher will also have a hand in finding his replacement on the basketball sideline. The head coaching position will be officially opened toward the end of basketball season and closed when the state championships are over. Interviews will begin shortly after that.
“I’ve certainly enjoyed coaching, and I feel like I’ve put a lot of time and effort into it,” Fisher says. “At the same time, I think I’m ready for a change. There’s no doubt that game nights, I’ll miss being out there and making decisions, but I’m also very excited about this new position and what it can entail for the future.”