Martin P. "Marty" Fletcher (born March 6, 1951) is an American retired
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
coach. Coaching for over twenty seasons from the early 1980s to 2004, Fletcher led three different
Division I schools while winning two conference regular season and tournament championships while collecting over 250 total wins.
[Marty Fletcher - Coaching Record. SportsReference.com. Retrieved June 29, 2014.](_blank)
/ref> During the 2003–04 season, Fletcher was the only coach in Division I or Division II to be the head coach for a school's men's ''and'' women's teams. That year, he took over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is a public research university in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is one of four campuses that make up the University of Colorado system. As of Fall 2017, UCCS had over 12,400 undergraduate an ...
(UCCS) men's team for one season while also spending his third year in charge of the women's team.[
He is a 1973 graduate of the ]University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
.
Coaching career
Fletcher first became a head coach in 1982 for the Virginia Military Institute
la, Consilio et Animis (on seal)
, mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal)
, established =
, type = Public senior military college
, accreditation = SACS
, endowment = $696.8 mill ...
following the departure of his predecessor Charlie Schmaus. Schmaus had led the Keydets to a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1977 and a 26–4 record, their best in school history.[2013-14 VMI Basketball Fact Book](_blank)
/ref> The team was led by future VMI Hall of Famer and NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
player Ron Carter
Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded nu ...
. Despite the initial success, however, by the time Fletcher took over, the Keydets were coming off a 1–25 season and had only won five times in the past two years. In their first season under their new head coach, VMI continued to struggle with a 2–25 record, but showed significant improvement the following year and achieved a winning record by 1985 at 16–14. Fletcher then left the school the next season, leaving VMI with a .330 winning percentage.
Fletcher's most endured period of success came at the University of Southwestern Louisiana
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...
, now known as Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. As the Ragin' Cajuns head coach for eleven years, he led the school to a regular season and tournament championship in 1992 in their inaugural Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...
season, as well as another tournament title in 1994. Seven of Fletcher's eleven years at Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
produced winning seasons.
Fletcher then left for the Denver Pioneers
The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver (DU). They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Denver is a member of The Summit League for men's and women's basketball, swimming and diving ...
, who were a Division II school at the time of his arrival. He assisted the program in its transition to Division I and the Sun Belt, but could not produce a winning season at Denver. He left the school following the conclusion of the 2000–01 season."Denver Head Men's Basketball Coach to Leave University". DenverPioneers.com. March 9, 2001.
/ref>
Head coaching record
Note: These are for his college men's teams only. His time as UCCS's women's coach is not included in these records.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Marty
1951 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
American women's basketball coaches
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Denver Pioneers men's basketball coaches
High school basketball coaches in Maryland
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball coaches
NC State Wolfpack men's basketball coaches
UCCS Mountain Lions men's basketball coaches
UCCS Mountain Lions women's basketball coaches
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
VMI Keydets basketball coaches