Phil Kahler, the first coach in the history of Fisher women’s basketball, established his program as the most successful in NCAA Division III.
Fisher has stung together 31 straight winning seasons, reach the 20-win plateau on 27 different occasions and advanced the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament 14 times, including two national runner-up finishes.
A two-time national coach of the year and a recipient of numerous regional coaching awards, Kahler has won 731 games, while losing just 145 times in his basketball career. No coach in NCAA basketball history – men’s or women’s – Division I, II or III – has coached longer than Kahler and won a better percentage of games.
Add in the nearly 400 games he won as Fisher’s volleyball coach in the late 70s and early 80s, as well as cross country and junior varsity men’s basketball, Kahler has been responsible for well over 1,000 Fisher-wins.
“I still haven’t scored a single point,” Kahler often points out. “I’ve just always made sure I had players that knew how to be successful both on the court and in the classroom.”
And while the speed and dynamics of women’s basketball has changed some over the past quarter-century or so, Kahler’s coaching techniques have remained the same.
Last year’s team that finished with a 25-3 overall record and won both games in the Empire 8 Conference Championship by an average of over 25 points, scored several easy layups and produced steal after steal, thanks to the same offense, defense and the same out-of-bounds plays his teams in the 70s, 80s and 90s used.
A 1959 graduate of Dickinson State, Phil lives in East Irondequoit with Fran, his wife of 52 years.
