Fleming Joins Men’s Basketball Staff
July 1, 2002

ESPN shows the X Games. Ashland University head men’s basketball coach Roger Lyons will show the Experience Games this coming fall.

Lyons has a veteran team coming back in 2002-2003 and now he’s added an experienced coach to his staff. Lyons has announced that Steve Fleming has joined the program as an assistant basketball coach.

“We’re happy to have Steve,” said Lyons. “He’s an experienced coach, he’s been a head coach. He brings a lot to the table.”

Fleming comes to Ashland from Tiffin University where he was the head coach of the Dragons from 1999-2002. Under his direction the Tiffin program made huge strides on the floor, in the classroom and in the community.

Fleming was an assistant coach with the Dragons from 1997-99. His background includes a stint as an assistant coach at Gannon (1996-97) and as a graduate assistant coach at Hiram (1996).

As the head coach at Tiffin, Fleming upgraded the schedule to the point where the Dragons were playing Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools like Ashland, Gannon and Findlay. At one point, the Dragons had a team point grade point average of 2.72, the team’s highest grade point average in five years. He took a team picked to finish ninth in the conference and guided it to a fourth-place finish. Fleming coached seven all-conference players and two honorable mention All-Americas, the second and third All-Americas in school history.

Tiffin basketball expanded in a number of areas under Fleming. He instituted the 6th Man Club, a fundraising organization to help support Tiffin basketball. He assisted in developing the “Dragon Network,” to assist seniors in finding employment by networking with TU basketball alumni.

Fleming assisted in developing, “The Steve Fleming Show,” a television program that publicized all aspects of Tiffin basketball. He was involved in a number of community projects, including the adopt-a-highway program and serving food at various soup kitchens.

Even with all that success, Fleming yearned for the chance to coach with the Eagles.

“I think the attraction is the university and chance to work with Coach Lyons,” said Fleming. “I think they have a very experienced group coming back. Their guard play is critical to how they play and they have two very good guards. They play so hard, the up-tempo style fits this team very well.”

Getting high quality student-athletes is an area of emphasis for Fleming.

“That’s the most important thing I can do,” said Fleming. “That’s a priority of mine, to keep the caliber of player we have at Ashland.”

Ashland is an NCAA Division II institution that competes in the GLIAC. AU finished 18-9 last season.

Fleming replaces Linc Darner, who left AU to become the head coach at Saint Joseph’s (IN).

Fleming, his wife, Karen and daughters Kailyn and Kelci, 2 and Alexa, 1, will reside in Ashland.