Fancher’s resignation leaves behind clean slate for Mountaineers

No one was more surprised to hear of Houston Fancher’s resignation than I was.

The now former Appalachian State University head basketball coach resigned Monday evening, only hours after I had spoken with him over the phone for an article I was putting together about the basketball team’s experience in the Southern Conference Tournament.

I’m not sure if Fancher knew at the time I had spoken with him that his days at Appalachian were over, because he certainly gave no indication of it.

It was a relatively informal conversation, with topics of discussion dancing from what was next for the basketball program to who his pick for the NCAA tournament was.

We didn’t really talk much about the SoCon tournament, as news of the basketball team’s elimination was somewhat old news at the time of our conversation.

It was a disappointing tournament of sorts for the Mountaineers.

After playing well in the first round of play, Appalachian was bested by conference rival Davidson College in the second round.

It was a sight which has become common in their recent meetings and perhaps a fact which played into his leaving of the university.

But despite the loss, Fancher had only praise for his team.

He could have been critical of the Mountaineers’ 13-18 season plagued by turnovers and defensive woes which made victory difficult to obtain on several occasions this season.

But he chose not to, instead speaking only of how hard his team had fought throughout the entirety of a difficult season.

He could have also used that time to call out his lone senior, Eduardo Bermudez, for attitude problems which Fancher said were present earlier in the season.

But he praised him instead, recognizing Bermudez for four years of solid devotion to a basketball program the head coach cared deeply for.

These are some of the reasons why I have the upmost respect for Fancher.

Additionally, he was always upfront and honest, preferring to informally sit courtside with me at practices face-to-face to discuss whatever it was I was writing about.

After he voiced his displeasure over The Appalachian’s choice to run a photo of Bermudez and fellow guard Ryann Abraham following their suspension midway through the season, he could have chosen to shut out our staff from covering practices and games.

But he acted with class, freely speaking with whoever on our staff approached him.

Although it appears a change was probably necessary for the Mountaineers to make a step into the NCAA tournament for the first time since Fancher took them there in 2000, it will be hard not to miss a coach who was so respectful to the university, community and media.

In a sense, the slate has now been wiped clean for Appalachian.

There’s a strong core of players here; one that demonstrated it could score at will numerous times during the course of this season.

This is a team that has plenty of talent to go around and possesses the kind of experience needed to carry its season as far as it would like next year.

But it’s something that probably wouldn’t be if not for the commitment of Fancher to its success.

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