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POWELL

John Fisher comes home to Powell High

Mike Blackerby
Shopper News correspondent

In typical fashion, John Fisher serves up a big dose of self-deprecating humor when he recalls his days at Powell High School.

“Bad student, bad player,” Fisher laughs.

Twenty years later, Fisher returns to Powell as a pretty darn good girls basketball coach by any measuring stick.

At Fulton, John Fisher was named PrepXtra girls' basketball coach of the year in 2014. His team lost in the state championship game.

Fisher, a 1997 Powell graduate, recently left his longtime post at Fulton to return to his alma mater following the resignation of Lady Panthers coach Christin Webb in April.

Fisher went 215-90 in 11 seasons at Fulton, with appearances in the state Class AA tournament in 2014 (lost in championship game) and last season (lost in quarterfinals).

Fisher said it was tough to say goodbye to Fulton, but easy to embrace his return home. “I always thought that (returning to Powell) could be an option, but I was consumed with what I was doing at Fulton,” he said.

“They were really good to me at Fulton and it was hard to leave. When I’m all in, I’m all in. Now I’m all in at Powell. It all goes back to the community and me going to school there. I have fond memories.”

He said there’s just something special about growing up in the tight-knit community of Powell. Both of his parents graduated high school there, also.

A self-described “mamma’s boy,” Fisher got into coaching because of his dad.
Glenn Fisher won more than 750 games as the longtime girls coach at Unicoi County.

Even though he was hardly a star for the Panthers during his playing days (1993-97) for coach Mike Ogan, Fisher said he wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.

“We weren’t anything special and I was just an average to below-average player, but we played hard,” said Fisher.

“I played sparingly and my high school career was nothing to write home about.”

Fisher said perhaps his biggest honor in high school was winning the “Most School Spirit” award.

“I bled orange and black,” he said.

“People love being around that place, and it has been that way since I was in school there. It’s one of the few places around where you still have a school like that.”

Powell was 20-11 last season and the Lady Panthers have been competitive the last few years, but Fisher said he believes the program can eventually return to heights it reached in the 2000s.

The Lady Panthers played in the state Class AAA tournament three consecutive years (2004-06).

Powell finished 35-5 in 2004 and 29-7 in 2005 with appearances in the state semifinals each season.

“Powell is a place that can sustain long-term success,” said Fisher.

He recalled playing against the Lady Panthers when he was coaching at Fulton. The Lady Falcons usually had the edge in talent, but Fisher said Powell made up for any shortcomings with great effort.

“When we played Powell we could always count on having to play hard to beat them,” he said.

“They always brought that workmanlike approach to games. With Powell, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. They’re kind of like the community is – they have to fight for everything they get.”