WCHS officials went outside the county to land their new boys basketball coach, but they didn’t go far.
Danny Fish, a 20-year coaching veteran, has been announced as the new WCHS boys coach. He comes to the Pioneers after serving as the DeKalb County girls basketball coach and girls softball coach this past school year.
“I’ve been looking to make the switch to guys for some time and I’m excited for this new start,” said coach Fish in an interview with the Standard on Tuesday. “I’m going to bring my own style and our team motto is ‘We Over Me.’ It is always about the team because few burdens are heavy when everyone lifts. The only stat I care about is wins and losses and we have to learn to first be great teammates before we can be a great team.”
Fish continued, “We’re going to get up and down the floor. I grew up watching Petino and Nolan Richardson at Arkansas and I like to trap and I like to press and I hope we have players who can fit that style.”
Although he didn’t coach against the Pioneer boys during his 10-year tenure at DeKalb County, he has seen the team play twice a year. Fish says he’s going to watch game film from last year so he can familiarize himself with what the team does well and he will hold tryouts in the near future.
Fish, 43, is a DeKalb County graduate, who has accumulated 435 basketball and softball wins during his career. He says he will only coach boys basketball at WCHS.
“Coaching two sports, you kind of can’t give both of them your all,” said Fish. “You end up cheating one of them and that’s not fair so I’ll only be coaching boys basketball in Warren County.”
Danny and his wife, Nicole, both played sports collegiately and he says, “athletics are our life.”
His son is a two-sport athlete in basketball and baseball who will be a freshman this coming school year. His daughter is 7 years old.
In addition to DeKalb County, Fish has coached at Union College (NAIA), Maryville College (NCAA DIII) and Tennessee Wesleyan (NAIA) where he coached two sports, women’s basketball and women’s fast-pitch softball.
During his time at DeKalb County, Fish led the girls team to an overall record of 90-89 with three region tournament appearances. That includes a TSSAA state tournament berth in 2018, a year in which he was awarded Pat Summitt AA Coach of the Year.
DeKalb County (girls basketball)
Overall 90-89
2016, 2017, 2018 Regional Appearances
2018 Sectional Champions
2018 AA State Final 8
DeKalb County (softball)
Overall 108-63
2017 and 2018 District & Regional Championships
Union College 70-64 (softball)
2010 Appalachian Athletic Conference Champions
2010 NAIA World Series
Maryville College 159-115 (softball head coach and basketball assistant)
