Rosepine, La. —
Danny Fletcher has been coaching basketball for 33 years, the last 16 of which was at Pitkin High School.
He has logged 869 victories over his time on the hardwood, including a state championship in 2004, where his Tigers, led by his son, senior point guard Daniel Fletcher, defeated Bethany Christian by one point.
But now Danny Fletcher has decided to move a little closer to home as he will be returning to Rosepine High School, taking over for Greg Wood, who resigned recently as the Eagles' head basketball coach.
"Pitkin has been like home to me and this was a very difficult decision," Fletcher said. "But I prayed about it and thought long and hard about it. I think this is the right decision, but it was a hard one to make."
Fletcher is no stranger to coaching at Rosepine.
Rosepine was where his coaching career began as he coached the Lady Eagles back in the late 1970's. In 1978, he guided the Lady Eagles to the Sweet 16, where they lost in the semifinals.
During the early 1980's, he moved to the boys' side of things and began to build some solid squads at Rosepine, before moving to Pitkin High School.
In 1987, the Tigers reached what was then the Top 24, but lost to old Wettermark High School, now known as Northwood-Lena, in double overtime in the state finals.
Fletcher briefly returned to Rosepine, leading the Eagles to the Class 1A state championship game in 1991, where Rosepine, which beat Southern Lab in the semifinals, dropped a tough decision to White Castle, 58-45.
Fletcher moved back to Pitkin for the 1994-95 season and has been there since.
In the late 1990's, he helped guide a group of Tigers, led by Casey Johnson, Randy Pollard, Ben Thompson, Jeremy Lambright and Robert LaCaze to 36 straight wins to open the season.
The Tigers eventually finished that 1999 season with a record of 42-2, losing to eventual Class B state champion Gibsland-Coleman in the quarterfinals.
A few years later, the Tigers went on a magical run through the 2004 playoffs, reaching the Top 28 in Lafayette.
In the state semifinals, the Tigers downed Florien by 12 points, 70-58, setting up the finals with Bethany Christian.
The Tigers scrapped and battled with Bethany Christian, forcing overtime and eventually winning, 52-51.
Five years has passed since that state championship, with Fletcher eclipsing the 800-win mark a few years back. With the Tigers' first win of the 2008-09 season, he attained his 850th win. Fletcher was also recently honored for his contributions to Louisiana High School basketball at the 2009 Top 28.
Earlier this year, Fletcher had no idea that Rosepine would be in need of a head coach.
"I honestly didn't know it was going to be available," he said. "But when it came open, I talked with my wife (former Lady Eagles head coach Barbara) about it. And I decided to take it."
Now, Fletcher will get the chance to not only have a shorter commute to work (he lives in Rosepine), but he will also get the opportunity to work with his wife at RHS.
"We have never worked at the same school," Fletcher said about his wife. "This will be the first time for us to work together. And I think this is going to be a very good fit for me."
