Legendary Fayetteville Basketball Coach Dies

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This article comes from the Northwest Arkansas Times.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Tough, hard-nosed and old school. All those descriptives informed the career of former Fayetteville High basketball coach and athletics director Joe Kretschmar.

Those qualities helped him win 535 games and three state championships (1975, 78, 87) during his 26-year coaching tenure (1966-92) at Fayetteville, but his former players remember a softer side.

"All those things are very fitting and true in his case, but sometimes the facade that you have to put up is different from what you actually are," Kyle Adams said of Kretschmar, who passed away Wednesday at his home in Prairie Grove at the age of 75.

Once he graduated, Adams said his connection to Kretschmar transcended the typical player-coach relationship.

"He was a friend after we got out of school," said Adams, the Fayetteville High assistant basketball coach who was the starting point guard on the Bulldogs' 1978 state championship team. "Once you got past the toughness part of it, which he was, make no mistake about it, he turned into a good friend. If you made it through his program, you were a better person for it."

Kretschmar helped Adams get his first coaching job at Siloam Springs. He was one of several former players whom Kretschmar helped break into the profession. Many of his previous charges chose the vocation because of the posi-tive experiences they had playing for Kretschmar.

"What I learned from him as a player and as an assistant coach made me want to get into theprofession," said Barry Gebhart, the current Fayetteville High basketball coach who played for Kretschmar in the early 1980s prior to being his assistant on the1987 state championship team. "If someone were to do a coaching tree, it would be long and quite distinguished. You can probably call him the grandfather of Fayetteville basketball."

Kretschmar didn't delude his players about the rigors of the profession. They had no illusions about coaching after he counseled them on theircareer choice.

"I think he tried to discourage most of us," Gebhart said. "If someone was interested in making money, this certainly wasn't the profession to go into. He made it clear that the rewards you get from this profession are somethingother than monetary."

Kretschmar remained in close contact with the basketball program after he retired. Last year he watched the Bulldogs post a 30-0 record en route to a state championship and numerous national rankings. He was in attendance for the Bulldogs' win over Rogers in the state finals at Hot Springs.

"He was the first person to shake my hand after the championship game, he and [and his wife] Mary Frances both," Adams said. "I'll alwaysremember that."

Lance Fisher was also at the game as an assistant coach for Fayetteville. A former player for Kretschmar in the early 1980s, Fisher has passed on many of the lessons he learned at the elbow of the venerable coach.

"I'm a better person for playing under Joe Kretschmar," he said. "When I coach summer ball or any other ball, I always revert back to the drills he put us through and the fundamentals he taught us everyday. You were blessed to play for him, very blessed. He'll be missed."

Gebhart said the fundamentals taught by Kretschmar are still relevant today. Last year's state championship team employed a more up-tempo style than Kretschmar was accustomed to, but the basic precepts of his philosophy were still present.

"I think he was proud for us," Gebhart said. "He looked on our bench and saw three of his former players. The offenses and defenses may have changed a little bit from what he ran, but the foundation and the fundamentals were still there.

"The game has changed, but what hasn't changed is you have to be able to dribble, shoot, pass and guard. Those were all the things that he taught."

Prior to the state championship game, Kretschmar said the Bulldogs' rollicking style of play was a departure from the more methodical approach he taught.

"Barry likes to run the ball," Kretschmar said. "I feel like I have to have a top coat on when I go in there, they run so fast now. They cause a breeze when they run by."

Kretschmar's critique notwithstanding, Gebhart said his predecessorwasn't totally averse to up-tempo play.

"He would say that just to give me a hard time," Gebhart said. "In 87, we ran the ball. When he had good guards, we got up and down the floor. One of the things I learned from him is when two good teams play one another, the team that scores the most easy baskets wins.

"One way to get easy baskets is by pressuring the ball defensively and getting steals. The other way is to push the ball up the floor."

Gebhar t said Kretschmar was known for the match-up zone defense he learned in the 1980s. Offensively, he preferred a read-based, passing-game system. Its complexities made it too confusing for most teams to adopt.

"It's very difficult to teach," Gebhart said. "You have to teach everybody how to read, and sometimes in high school that'svery difficult."

Kretschmar was inducted in the Arkansas High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007. A year later his wife, Mary Frances, joined him to make the Kretschmar's the only husband-wife inductees in the Hall of Fame. Mary Frances won more than 300 games and two state championships (1993-94) during her 15-year tenure as the Fayetteville girls basketball coach.

The athleticism that allowed Kretschmar to letter in basketball and baseball at the University of Arkansas was still evident in his later years. He played to a single-digit handicap in golf during his early 70s, often shooting close to his age.

Kretschmar signed a professional baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals after he graduated college and played minor league baseball prior to his first coaching job at Iberia, Mo., in 1956.

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