Fischer Named WBCA Coach Of The Year
UW-Oshkosh head women's basketball coach Brad Fischer has been named the 2017 Division III Women's Coach of the Year by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
The award is the second for Fischer, who also received Wisconsin's top Division III coaching citation following the 2013 season.
This past season, Fischer led UW-Oshkosh to a 26-4 record and the program's first WIAC championship since 2006. The Titans won 13 of their 14 WIAC contests to secure their first outright league title since 1999.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the 2016-17 season ranked ninth in the country by D3hoops.com and 12th by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The Titans advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship before suffering a 68-56 road loss to Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.).
Fischer's UW-Oshkosh squad listed second nationally with just 11.8 turnovers per game and 13th in the country by allowing only 50.5 points per contest. UW-Oshkosh also paced the WIAC in field goal percentage (.413), field goal percentage defense (.354) and turnover margin (+4.40).
Fischer coached a pair of All-WIAC first team performers this past season in Eliza Campbell and Taylor Schmidt. Schmidt also became UW-Oshkosh's third WIAC Player of the Year and a three-time honorable mention member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's NCAA Division III All-America team.
Fischer, the 2017 WIAC Coach of the Year, owns a 118-27 record in his five years at UW-Oshkosh. He has guided the Titans to the NCAA Division III postseason during each of the past four seasons and three consecutive WIAC tournament championships from 2014-16.
The other WBCA College Coach of the Year award winners were Greg Gard (University of Wisconsin) for Men's Division I, Carolyn Kieger (Marquette University) for Women's Division I, Jeff Berkhof (UW-River Falls) for Men's Division III and Adam Ligocki (UW-Waukesha) for Junior College.