Gary Fisher has been named the new head swimming and diving coach at Concordia. Interim Athletic Director Rachel Bergeson announced the hire on Monday.
Fisher, who was the Cobber assistant coach for the 2015-16 season, takes over for Talia Butery and becomes the fifth head coach in program history.
"Gary has incredible experience in swimming and diving and brings a wealth of knowledge about the area and the sport," said Bergeson. "I am very excited about the direction the program will head under Gary's coaching."
Fisher started his coaching career while he was working his way through college. He was an assistant coach at Fargo Shanley High School in 1985 and became the head coach at Fargo North High School in 1986. Fisher coached the boys' and girls' teams at Fargo North for four seasons and helped the boys' team win the North Dakota state title in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
After his highly successful stint at Fargo North Fisher became the assistant coach at North Dakota State for the 1989-90. The program was then eliminated from the university and Fisher went on to become the head coach for the Moorhead High School girls' team in 1994 where he guided the Spuds for three seasons.
"I have always loved coaching and working with student/athletes to help them reach their goals," commented Fisher. "After spending last season as the assistant coach I realized how much I missed being on the pool deck and seeing the smiles on the athletes faces when they have a good performance."
Fisher earned his bachelor's degree from North Dakota State in 1990 and became the Associate Director of Memorial Union at NDSU in 2000. He then completed his Masters of Education degree in 2000 and was hired as the Director of the Wellness Center at NDSU in 2006. He continued in that position until 2014 when he decided to take a job in the public sector.
"I am excited about the opportunity at Concordia," added Fisher. "I want to keep improving on the success we had last season and keep growing the numbers in the program."
