Q&A with SPS AD Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher is a powerful guy.

As the Athletic Director for Springfield Public Schools, Fisher’s actions carry a lot of weight within the high school sports community and beyond. Now in his seventh year as SPS AD, Fisher has one of the more complex and important jobs in the area, putting his imprint and vision on the city’s five public high schools, as well as the middle schools and elementaries. But with big responsibility comes big expectations. Fisher sat down with Allen Vaughan and TAGsgf.com (then RecSpecsOnline.com) for a 1-on-1 Q&A to discuss some unsettled topics, dispel some rumors and finally speak without actually being asked a question (something that he admits doesn’t happen much.).

AV: People assume you’re the athletic director, they know your responsibilities. Can you sum up exactly what it is you do?
MF: “I oversee the health, physical education and driver’s education programs for the district’s five public high schools, nine middle schools and 37 elementary schools, along with the athletic/activities for the high schools and middle schools. I’m responsible for the hiring of staff, along with site administrators. We have approximately 300 positions here in the district. I interpret the program’s mission, vision and goals; oversee the scheduling of contests, officials and transportation; interpret and make sure MSHSAA eligibility guidelines are met; develop and implement the budget; Oversee the purchasing of uniforms and equipment; Evaluate head coaches; Coordinate of the schedule of district facilities for athletics; Serve as the secretary and treasurer of the Ozark Conference; Direct special events such as the (Bass Pro Shops) Tournament of Champions and the KTXR Lady Classic; I’m the outgoing chairman of the Springfield Area Sports Commission and then will be serving as the president of the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame this upcoming year.”

So as far as the hiring and firing, are you the guy? Do you have the final say?
“What we do here in my office when we have an opening, is collect all the information and distribute it to the school sites and together we will look at those applicants then decide together who we will interview. Now, me being the athletic director and dealing with coaches and knowing those coaches in the surrounding area, I’m able to give that information to the site directors. At that point, we get together with the site administrators and select the person we feel is most qualified. We make sure we are all in agreement, because if there is someone I want and it’s not someone that site director wants, then it’s going to be unfair to the person we hire. What we try to do is make sure we’re all on the same page.”

How many coaches do you have to hire in an average year?
“It varies from year to year. Some years it may be eight to 10, some years, four to five.”

How does the scheduling process work? Do you schedule every game?
“We allow our head coaches to schedule their nonconference contests. Their conference schedules are set for them by the Ozark Conference. We really give the coaches the flexibility because the coaches know their programs and their talent level better than anyone else. We give them some parameters as far as travel. If we have a team for instance that needs to play competition that they can’t get in the surrounding area, we allow them to travel outside (the area) to Columbia, Jefferson City or St. Louis to find that type of talent. We want to make sure they have the right competition when it comes to playoff and state time.”

Who has the contracts?
“We have all the contracts. I personally write all the contracts. It gives me a better idea of where our teams are going and who we’re playing.”

We’re in the middle of football season and the Springfield teams are much improved. What’s behind the resurgence?

“First of all, our coaches have done a really nice job of getting our kids to buy in. We’ve been able as a district to do a better job of connecting our middle schools with our high schools. Because of our feeder schools not being directly tied in to a certain high school, sometimes we’ve missed out on connecting them and spending as much time together as we need to, so for the last two years we have met as a football staff — high school, middle school, all together — let them meet in one room and get together and let them meet with their feeder programs and get on the same page as far as what their running, offensively and defensively, and we still want our middle school coaches to have some flexibility in their programs. I think our communities, our booster clubs, have done a nice job, especially on Friday nights, of getting the kids and student body involved. I think maybe there’s a greater emphasis by everyone involved. I also think our coaches have done a good job of getting the multi-sport athlete involved. That’s been a benefit and something we’d like to promote as a district.”

You mentioned how there are more middle schools than high schools. How do you handle the middle schools that feed into two separate high schools?
“You see that more in football than anything else, because of the different offenses and defenses. (With Carver, that feeds into both Kickapoo and Parkview, Viking coach Wes) Beachler and (Chiefs coach Kuper) Kreul work well together. They’ve met with the coaches at Carver and first of all, they want the fundamentals taught. If they can implement some of Parkview’s or Kickapoo’s philosophies, whether offense or defense, then I think both coaches have been pleased.”

Fancy facilities get a lot of attention. With more and more new schools being built outside of Springfield, what does the future hold for SPS facilities? What type of plan is in place?
“Facilities aren’t going to make or break your program. You can have success with facilities that maybe are not at the top level, but I think in today’s time, you look at curb appeal, those facilities that some of our neighboring schools have, and we’re playing catch up. We’re playing catch up in the area of school facilities overall, as well. We have to understand where we are as far as the big picture. When we still have schools that are in need of air conditioning, we understand maybe we may have to wait a bit. But the longer we wait, the further we will fall behind.

But we have made some improvements. We have made improvements at Hillcrest’s football stadium, with new bleachers and a new press box. Kickapoo has had press box and bleachers renovations in the past six years. We just installed on a new track surface at JFK stadium. On our bond upcoming in November, we’re hoping to get our lights moved off the football field. That will help move toward the direction of getting turf on the those fields, not only to help football, but a number of programs. Also with the bond, we’re looking at improving the press box and bleachers at Glendale High School. We have a number of things in the works, but with the economy as it is, we’re just taking it maybe a little bit slower than we originally want to.”

You mentioned turf, is it realistic to think it could be at each high school in the near future?
“I would hope within the next few years we would have turf, but again, that’s a wish list. For instance at Glendale High School, the boys’ soccer team plays on the outfield of the baseball field and has for a number of years. If we’re able to put turf on the football field, that would allow us to move their practice to the turf and allow us to use that practice area to construct a soccer field. Also, we would have room for an on-campus softball field.”

A few years ago, a lot of was made of how Glendale’s booster club raised its own money to build a HPER facility and locker room combo, not using SPS funds. Is that how you’re going to bridge the gap? Why hasn’t it happened more?
“We can look at that as one of our options with private funds. The HPER facility with locker rooms at Glendale, the boosters have done a great job with that. It’s a beautiful complex there and I think the economy again has played a role in that. We’ve had some discussion with different booster clubs, but a lot of that is on hold right now. I would think down the road, there would be some of these types of activities, communities getting together with these sites and try to build locker room facilities, indoor training facilities, etc. That’s always a possibility.”

One of your responsibilities is putting together the Tournament of Champions. Talk about that process, because a lot of people enjoy it.
“It’s not only an opportunity to bring some of the finest basketball in the country to Springfield, but it’s an opportunity for our players, coaches and fans to interact with the incoming teams we bring in. I think it’s something the community enjoys. They have really backed us for 25-plus years and moving into the new arena last year was outstanding. We had great crowds and ended up being one of our better tournaments.”

How do you stay on top of the teams you want to invite?
“A great deal of it comes from the Internet. The scouting services, I’ve made contact with Jerry Meyer from Rivals and Eric Bossi from Scout, two of the larger recruiting services, and they’ve been very helpful as far as individual players. Word of mouth from former coaches from the (T of C). They have a great understanding of what the tournament is all about and can really be our best spokesmen for the tournament. For the most part, we’ve been able to have really good teams, teams that our community has been receptive to.”

How many are you told no?
“A few times. There are some teams out there that are tied in to the apparel companies and there are states with limitations. There are states that can’t travel more than a certain distance, some that can’t travel out of state or the adjoining state. There are teams that can’t play three days consecutively. So, you’re limited somewhat there. You have to be careful as to what type of programs you’re looking at. There is so much movement and recruiting of high schools kids from high school to the next. I’ve been after teams with outstanding players, but I’ve heard that a certain player might not be there the next year.”

Have you ever been burned by someone moving?

“Not from what we would call the No. 1 player on the team. In fact, it worked to our advantage one year. DeMarcus Cousins, who played here with LeFlore (Ala.), who is now at Kentucky. When we invited LeFlore, they had a really nice team, but over the summer, Cousins showed up. He was a junior when he was here and had a nice tournament. For the most part, we’ve avoided that star quality leaving to go somewhere else.”

How much of these teams do you get to see in advance?
“I try to always make it to the City of the Palms Tournament (in Florida) where a number of these teams play, which is over December. I try to recruit from that tournament for next year. Then I’m able to look over the Internet and there’s high school games on TV. I’ve had the opportunity over the summer to see AAU contests — they’re not playing with their school teams at that time — but I’m able to evaluate individual talent.”

Who do people need to look for during this year’s Tournament of Champions? We’re not that far away.

“Fab Melo is 7-foot Brazilian from Sagemont HS in Florida who was not eligible last year because he was a transfer. So he was really under everyone else’s radar. I was trying to recruit the No. 1 player, Brandon Knight, out of Pinecrest in Florida. Florida put in a new rule this year that teams can only go on one out of state trip. We were waiting to hear back and finally I’d given them enough time, so I started searching and called Mark Liebermann, who is the coach at Monsignor Pace, who was here a few years ago, and he said I should get in touch with Sagemont. They accepted and two days later, Pinecrest called and said they’d like to come, but it was too late. As it turns out, Sagemont is going to have the better overall team. Melo has already signed with Syracuse and they have two other high D-I players, too.
Another team is United Faith Christian out of Charlotte (N.C.) which has a young man going to Florida State and a 7-foot sophomore who’s a top 10 player in his class. They have another 6-8 that the top 25 teams are recruiting.
Joe Jackson, from White Station will be back. He’s a top 10 player who has signed with Memphis. Milton HS (Marietta, Ga.), has three juniors in their class. Also, Chaminade and Brad Beal out of St. Louis, who will be able to pick his college of choice.

What are some of your favorite T of C moments?

“If you go back, I enjoyed Teddy Dupay’s and Scott Brakebill’s performances. Also, in the early years, Alonzo Mourning gave the tournament some credibility. If you look at recent years, Tyler Hansbrough. What an outstanding performance. Not only his athletic and basketball skill, but his work ethic and then we were able to watch him for four years at North Carolina. Kids like Erving Walker, who’s playing at Florida now from of Christ the King, when he got on that roll against Kickapoo a few years back. Also, the way the crowd reactions are. The coach from McEachern (Ga.) told me he was amazed after a close game with Olympia (Fla.) last year. Even though they lost the game, as they walked off the floor, they received a standing ovation. Those are the type of things that really make the tournament what it is. Those are the things the teams talk about when they leave.”

Not long ago, your department was examining the fairness of coaching stipends. Where does that stand and bring everyone up to speed on the research.
“Last year, a stipend committee was formed to look at the extra curricular stipends throughout the district. We understand as a district we are behind in some of those areas, so we looked at all of the surrounding schools and developed a plan that we felt very comfortable with that would put us even or ahead of the other area schools. We were hopeful that Tier 1 would be able to be implemented this year, but because of the budgets, we’re not able to. But I feel much better that at least we have addressed the issue. The plan is in the hands of the Board of Education and the members have been very supportive.
What we looked at was many schools have gone to a percentage of the base (salary). Therefore, when your base salaries go up, the stipends will also go up. We fell behind because we were on a fixed stipend schedule. When salaries increased, our stipends didn’t reflect those increases. It’s something that will be addressed, but we’re not certain of the time frame now.”

Has there been any resolution to the Title IX issue with softball? Refresh our memory on what happened.
“OCR visited us two years ago and we submitted a report to them. At this point, we have not received anything back from them. It really had to do with softball fields being on campus. Right now, Parkview practices at Fassnight Park, Hillcrest practices across the street from the school at CBC, Central is at Grant Beach Park and Kickapoo and Glendale are practicing at Meador. They’re all great facilities and we play all our games at Cooper, which is one of the nicer complexes in the state of Missouri. But in saying that, it would be a goal of mine to try to get the softball fields on campus. With Central, there’s no area right here, so Grant Beach is as close as we’ll get. Hillcrest has CBC and they’ve done some major remodeling with that field and with Fassnight across from Parkview, we’re really looking at Glendale and Kickapoo. Our goal is, with some improvements to other facilities, we could get them on campus in the near future.”

What was at the heart of the issue?
“An OCR complaint was filed by someone in the community, so my understanding was it came from not having facilities on campus.

You were a revered basketball coach in the area. Now that you’re the boss of hundreds of coaches, do you miss being on the sidelines?
“I don’t know about being a boss, because as you know, I’m not sure coaches think they have a boss. I miss being around kids and the practice setting. But it’s been enjoyable with this position. I still get to stand on the sidelines. If things don’t go well, I can move up to the bleachers and if things really don’t go well, I can go to another game. It’s been a good thing, but I don’t know if there’s anything better than being a coach, or being called ‘Coach.’”

How many events do you see a week?
“I try to get out to multiples sites four to five times a week. I think it’s important for the coaches to see that I’m there. It’s also a good chance for me to observe, to see what’s going on, not only in the coaching area, but with our kids. It’s important to understand each program. It also gives me a chance to be involved, to talk to moms and dads and community members.”

Where do you think the future of high school sports are heading, even the way they’re being covered?

“As far as the way the media reports it and you being a former employee of the News-Leader, I think being from the old school where as a young person, you’d pick up the paper to read the sports — not only did you want to read about your team or your favorite team, but you also wanted to read about what your opponents or what people throughout the state were doing. That’s one thing with the News-Leader I always enjoyed, because they did such great job covering it. As a coach, I was able to use that as a scouting tool. It was a good way for kids to get their names in the paper and now with a number of the cuts and the changes with our media, I think that’s more difficult to find out exactly what’s going on in your area. I miss it, I understand the reasons why. It’s a cost saving issue, but when something like this happens, I think there will be another avenue that will open up. I’m not sure what that is right now, but high school sports are important. They’re important to the coaches, to moms and dad and to the community. I think we’ll continue to write and talk about high school sports, but I don’t know in what format.

As far as high school sports, you know over the past 20 years, there’s been more of a movement toward club. There’s plusses and minuses with that. Kids are playing a great deal more than they used to as far as organized activities. Maybe that keeps them focused, maybe that keeps them from getting into trouble. I also see, especially at the middle school level heading into a direction that concerns me. We have a difference in what’s happening at certain schools.

We have a number of kids who are entering competition at the seventh grade level who have no or little instruction. Then you have other kids who have played hundreds of games. So some are starting behind the 8 ball from the onset. My biggest concern is all of our kids aren’t on an equal playing field and I’m afraid we’re losing those kids’ interest level. When they’re out competing as a seventh grader against kids who have been competing for many years, that’s not fun. As a district, we’re hoping at some point that we can put a greater emphasis on intramurals in the fourth, fifth and sixth grade levels to give those kids an opportunity to be on a team and be taught the basic fundamentals.”

In closing, is there anything didn’t ask you that you’d like to talk about? I’ll give you the floor for once.
“There are a lot of great things that are going on in SPS athletics. Last year, we had nine high school teams compete in the final four of state competition. Sometimes that message doesn’t reach everyone. There are also a number of outstanding teams and individual accomplishments happening every day. I want to compliment our coaches on being positive role models and spending time with our kids, not only to make them better at their skill levels in their sport, but making them better human beings.”

Fisher’s bio:
Seventh year as SPS AD
Spent 14 years at Greenwood’s head basketball, golf and track and field coach, and middle school football coach
Spent three years at Owensville High School as head basketball and assistant football, baseball and track and field coach.
Spent five years at Stanberry High School as head basketball and track and field coach and assistant football.