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Craig
Fletchall begins his 4th year at the helm of the Barton County
men's basketball staff, the school’s 11th men’s
basketball coach in its history. Last year Barton finished with a 23-8 record advancing to the quartefinals of the Region VI tournament.
The previous season, the Cougars were picked 9th in the Jayhawk West out of 9 team. But Coach Fletchall guided the Cougars to a 2nd place effort and took his team all the way to the Region VI Championships Game, just missing out on the school's 1st trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in 6 years. Barton finished with a 27-7 record and spent much of the season ranked in the NJCAA Top 20. During Fletchall's 1st season
Barton went 18-12 with a 6-10 record in the Jayhawk West.
The Cougars were on their 2nd year of probation and were not
eligible for post-season play.
Prior
to coming to Barton, Coach Fletchall was the head coach at
Neosho County, where he has spent 5 seasons withthe Panthers.
In his final season at Neosho, Coach Fletchall guided Neosho
to the Region VI finals for the 1st time in school history.
His 5-year mark at Neosho was 101-58. This season the Panthers
jumped to a 17-1 start to the season before finishing with
a regular season mark of 23-7. Neosho then knocked off 3-time
defending Region VI Champion Coffeyville in the semifinals,
74-59. Upstart Pratt ended Neosho’s season in the Region
VI Championship game, 77-65. Neosho was ranked as high as
No. 12 this year – the highest ranking in school history.
Coach
Fletchall is 2-1 life time against Barton, including a 69-68
overtime win this past December as well as ending Barton’s
string of 50 straight non-conference home wins in 2002. Neosho
defeated the then unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Cougars 100-98
in double overtime at the Walnut Bowl/Cougar Booster Club
Classic.
Coach
Fletchall has spent most of his career in the Jayhawk Conference
and it’s surrounding communities. He grew up in Hutchinson
and went to college at Wichita State University and Fort Hays
State University. He spent 11 seasons in the high school ranks,
winning a state title at Hutch Trinity in 1987. Trinity was
where Coach Fletchall started his coaching career, going 40-9
in his 2 seasons with the state title in 1987. After winning
the state title, Coach Fletchall moved on to Wichita Kaupan
Mount Carmel where he guided the Crusaders for three seasons
before taking the job at Shawnee Mission East. In his 6 years
at East, his clubs went 86-47 and posted the school record
for number of wins at 19 in his final season in 1996. His
teams won back-to-back Sub State titles (the only time in
school history). He earned league Coach of the Year honors
at Trinity (1987) and East (1993). Coach Fletchall was 146-99
in his 11 seasons at the high school level.
He
began his service in the Jayhawk Conference as an assistant
at Cowley County for 3 seasons. The Tigers set the school
record for wins in 2 of those 3 seasons. In 1998 – Coach
Fletchall’s initial season at Cowley – the Tigers
won 25 games only to better that mark in 2000 at 26. From
there he moved on to Neosho where be took the Panthers to
within a game of the NJCAA National Tournament.
In
addition to the success of his teams on the court, Coach Fletchall’s
teams have had great success in the classroom as well. Each
of his teams have had a 3.0 GPA or higher and 34 of the 35
sophomores have graduated from Neosho during his tenure. In
2001his team had the highest GPA in NJCAA Division I. The
team was also honored as an Academic All-American team in
2002 when Neosho had the 4th highest GPA at the division I
men’s basketball level. |
