Bethany Lutheran College today named Matt Fletcher as the new head men’s basketball coach. Fletcher comes to Bethany after spending the last three seasons at Upper Iowa (NCAA II) as the associate head coach a year ago (2015-16) and an assistant the first two seasons (2013-15). During each of Fletcher’s three years with UIU, the Peacocks finished fourth in the South Division of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, winning their first playoff game.
During the 2011-12 season, Fletcher was an assistant at Kentucky Wesleyan, helping the Panthers to a 23-8 record overall and an appearance in the NCAA II Midwest Region Championship game. He started his collegiate coaching career under Rich Glas at NCAA III Concordia (Minn.) during the 2008-09 season. Other stops for Fletcher include Anoka and South St. Paul High Schools.
“My family and I are extremely excited for this amazing opportunity and we are thankful to be a part of this great institution, athletic department, and community,” Fletcher said. “We will get to work immediately on developing these young men on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. We cannot wait to start building these relationships and the program at Bethany.”
Since 2013, Fletcher has been a camp coordinator for the Midwest Elite Basketball Camps. For five years, he also committed his time as assistant and head coach for the Minnesota Glory basketball squads, an AAU organization with three teams – 15 and under, 16U, and 17U.
“We are excited that Matt Fletcher has joined our staff to lead the men’s basketball program,” said Don Westphal, Director of Athletics. “Matt comes to Bethany with high accolades from numerous college coaches representing many Division II and III conferences in the Upper Midwest. He is a motivated coach and diligent recruiter who made a fantastic impression on everyone he’s interacted with here at Bethany. We look forward to his leadership of the Viking men’s basketball team for years to come.”
As a player, Fletcher, a native of North Branch, Minn., had a stellar four-year career at Southwest Minnesota State (NCAA II). The three-time All-NSIC performer holds the career records at SMSU for three-pointers made (305), free throw percentage (85.3%), and is second in three-point percentage at (44.8%). He also set the Mustang single-season records for free throw shooting (91.3%) as a junior and is second and third in the SMSU books for three-point shooting in a season (48.0%) as a sophomore and (45.5%) as a junior. Fletcher is the seventh leading scorer in SMSU history with 1,375 career points. He also ranks seventh in games played with 118, 11th in assists with 236 and 12th in field goals made with 436.
http://www.blcvikings.com/news/2016/5/4/matt-fletcher-hired-as-new-mens-basketball-coach.aspx
