Photo by Sam Thiel Bethany Lutheran College coach Matt Fletcher looks on as his team plays SMSU on Monday. Fletcher played from 2004-2008 with the Mustangs.

MARSHALL – When the final horn of their game on Monday sounded, Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball coach Brad Bigler and Bethany Lutheran College coach Matt Fletcher met at half-court, exchanged a handshake and a hug and smiled with one another.

While this was only the second meeting between the two programs and the first for Bigler as a coach, Fletcher and Bigler’s paths have crossed well more than once.

Fletcher, in his third year as coach of the Vikings, spent a good amount of time in Marshall and on campus of SMSU, playing from 2004-2008 as a member of the Mustangs’ men’s basketball program.

After leaving SMSU, Fletcher made coaching stops at multiple schools before working his way back to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference as an assistant coach at Upper Iowa University. He would become the associate head coach for the Peacocks in the 2015-16 season before coming to BLC.

In two seasons at BLC, Fletcher has led the Vikings to a record of 37-18 and a winning percentage of 0.673. Last season, BLU won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) tournament championship and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. There, the Vikings would upset nationally-ranked St. John’s University for their first-ever NCAA Tournament win.

Fletcher said it’s definitely special to be able to come back to Marshall and makes trips whenever he can.

“It’s always cool to come back,” Fletcher said. “It’s a special place and some of my best friends are still from here and this place will always be a second home to me.”

During his time as a Mustang, Fletcher recorded 1,375 career points and connected on a school-record 305 3-pointers. He is also first in SMSU team history in free throw percentage (85.3 percent) and second in 3-point percentage (44.8 percent).

As a player, Fletcher was able to turn to Bigler as a mentor and is grateful that he can continue to use the things he learned from the SMSU coach now in his coaching days.

“Coach Bigler has been a mentor of mine and I played for him, so he’s been there every step of the way in my coaching journey and playing journey. It’s pretty cool to have this opportunity and it meant a lot to be able to come out on my old court and coach against him,” Fletcher said. “All the stuff he’s taught me, I’m trying to implement into our program too. He’s just proud of what I’m doing, he’s been a support system since Day 1 and I’m sure he’s going to maintain that way and I’m lucky that I got to play for him.”

Meanwhile, Bigler said it’s fun to watch the growth Fletcher has had from being a player to a coach and is excited to see what’s in store for him.

“To see Matt on the other side of the sidelines, we’ve faced him when he was at Upper Iowa but it’s just fun to watch a guy grow,” Bigler said. “To see where he came at as a freshman in college to where he’s at now, that’s a long time but over that time he’s done things the right way and I’m just really proud of him.”