Coach Fisher is a great guy

[ST_Lawson]

I mean....duh....of course he is (or at least, from everything I've heard from everyone who's interacted with him...I haven't personally met him myself, so I can't technically speak from personal experience).

But, I just found out about something that reinforces that opinion of him.

My wife has a co-worker who has been out since early October last year battling Leukemia. She's gone through treatments, transplants, chemo...the works. She's doing much better now though, and has just (yesterday) gotten approval from her doctor to return to work on a part-time (~16 hours per week at this point) basis starting on Monday.

Apparently Coach Fisher has been regularly emailing her throughout her recovery to see how she's doing, encouraging her, etc. and now that she's doing better, he is planning on having her come by practice and meet the guys at some point. She's a pretty big sports fan (mostly Cardinals...I don't know if she's specifically a football fan too or not though), so I'm sure she greatly appreciates the support.

Anyway, just wanted to put that out there, since it's not likely that it'll be something that you guys otherwise hear about unless you frequently talk to Coach Fisher yourself.

[W1U]

Thanks for passing along the story. I'm happy to have him represent our school.

Now if we can just get him to stick around for a while..

[ST_Lawson]

Now if we can just get him to stick around for a while.

You never really know what will happen down the line, but he feels like the kind of coach who will stick around for a while. I don't know what it would take to get him to go elsewhere, but if I had to guess, it'd have to be a pretty big step up and towards the east (closer to "home"). Usually if a coach is hired away from somewhere, he's moving up (I know, I know....I said "usually"...not always), which means that the team is doing really well...so that'd be something, I suppose.

As I said, I haven't met him personally, so I don't know for sure, but he just seems like he likes it here which means he'd be likely to be here a while.

[meganeck]

Also I think Fisher is already trying to be a mentor with other coaches, the baseball coach tweeted something about Fisher giving him an article to read when they talked

[Leatherneck57]

I strongly suggest anyone that is in town to stop by the football office and personally meet Coach Fisher and especially if you work on campus or live in the community. Just walk down the hill and introduce yourself. He has an open door policy and loves talking to fans!

One thing you'll find out about Charlie is the fact that he's a GREAT ambassador for Western Illinois and good for the community and our program. I also learned this last weekend from some administration that he is the least maintenance of any coach we have. That speaks volumes as he isn't needy or a pain in the ass! All he wants to do is build his program in the guidelines given to him when he was hired.

Trust me...when you meet him you will be wowed as he is the most down to earth person you'll ever meet. I truly believe he's here for the long haul because if you look back at his hiring news conference he mentioned he wanted to be a head coach again after his stint at West Georgia and being an assistant for many years...but mentioned it's just not that easy...in fact he said it was hard.

Personally...I believe he is here for the long haul and so are some of his assistants. When Charlie does decide to retire I think our next coach will be named from someone on his staff at that time and they will be good because they came from the same beliefs and morals.

Call me crazy but if you think about it, besides winning his first 2 games look at what he's done for this program in less than 9 months with very little budget etc.

LN57

[Western_101]

Thanks Lawson, and "57"

For us football guys it is natural. It is part and parcel of the University experience and the football is interwoven into the molding of young men and the fact that "oh yeah" ....lol...."we are here for academic purposes"...

Western is an academic institution, but not a research institution. We are a pretty standard Mid range Medium to High enrollment Masters level University.

I know it can really grate on those in the circles of academia that have no use for sports. However, Western being relevant for football, having a winning program, having a multitude of players move on to careers in the NFL. So on and so forth. Exposure with both Football and Mens Basketball, right or wrong, is the biggest ambassador and or means of exposure that the University has.

Back in the day Boise State had a HUGE increase in freshman applications.....BSU football underdog dominating coincidence? I think not.

More recently App State had a HUGE upswing in interest in freshman wanting to enroll. Yes it is sad from an academia stand point, that something entirely unrelated to academics spawns interest and support for a University. Kids want to be with the up and commer and the cool crowd and the winner. Yes, the Marque sports become the face of Western for 80% of the population. Last year Western's reported attendance was dead last in the MVFC for football. People on here said that Students don't support the team.


Well.. My wife told me when we got home Saturday night that that was the most fun she had had all year, weather great, band great, crowd amazing...so many students, so much energy. Awesome opponent, she and I didn't have a beer and were talking football the whole game...her dad was a Football Official and I played High School Ball so, it was fun to talk about what we were seeing. (yes I mostly follow the ball when snapped, guilty as charged.)

If I am wrong, I would so love to hear others perspectives?