Tim Fitzpatrick of Durango High School has retired from coaching. Fitzpatrick led the Durango High School girls basketball team to a final four finish and 23-3 record this year, culminating a coaching career that began in 1994.
“I felt it was best for personal reasons,” Fitzpatrick said. “Thinking about the program, the time was right. There’s some young talent still in the program that has had that taste of success.”
Fitzpatrick will remain in his role as the Durango High School Athletic Director, he just won’t be coaching anymore.
Fitzpatrick first moved to Durango to play basketball for Fort Lewis College in the 1991-92 season.
While at FLC, the DHS girls basketball coach at the time, Jim Zoller, asked Fitzpatrick and one his teammates if they wanted to coach a summer league team.
“I reluctantly said yes, then I really enjoyed it,” Fitzpatrick said. “That changed my path.”
Fitzpatrick played basketball overseas in New Zealand after graduating, then got a teaching job with Durango’s school district in 1996. He started as the DHS girls C-team basketball coach. In 1997, he took over as the DHS head boys basketball coach and led the team for 10 seasons until 2007.
He then worked as an assistant with the girls team before taking over as its head coach in the 2014-15 season and leading it for nine seasons.
Fitzpatrick was also the DHS head girls soccer coach for four years and head boys soccer coach for two seasons.
“When I took over basketball, there wasn’t a real sense of success on the boys’ side,” he said. “Myself and a lot of guys, our goal was to build up the boys basketball program and make it competitive.”
The boys had lots of successful seasons, including a 19-6 record in 2006-07, but the 2005 squad stuck out to Fitzpatrick.
“We were loaded and won a lot of games that year,” he said.
After serving as the boys’ head coach, Fitzpatrick then coached the girls basketball C-team, serving as an assistant for nine years before taking over as the program’s head coach in 2014-15.
“When I took over the girls, I wanted to mimic the success we had on the boys’ side,” Fitzpatrick said.
In his nine years as DHS’ head girls basketball coach, the Demons went 131-81.
“Looking at this year, we had a fantastic year, but it had been building for several years,” Fitzpatrick said. “We had been to several rounds of 16.”
In his nine years coaching the girls basketball team, eight players went on to play college basketball.
“That’s really a testament to those kids,” he said.
“I’m a pretty competitive person, but I also enjoyed the high school kids,” he said when asked what his favorite thing about coaching was.
He also said he’ll miss the games and practices and watching teams improve throughout a season.
Coaching, especially in Durango, however, is harder than most people realize, he said. “The travel alone wears on our coaches,” he said.
“I’m thankful for DHS, and I’m proud of the things the teams have been able to accomplish over the years,” Fitzpatrick said. “The game of basketball has been good to me and it will always be there. I enjoyed my time coaching basketball, the relationships with the kids and the coaches. It’s just time to go.”
