What makes the Campbell women's basketball program successful? 
 
One might point to 691 victories over the last 42-plus years, a graduation rate of over 90 percent, four league trophies over the last four seasons.
 
One Hall of Fame coach, plus another Hall of Fame coach in the making. 
 
If you would list those points off to eighth-year Camel women's hoops head coach Ronny Fisher, he would stop you mid-sentence to deflect credit for that last phrase.
 
Fisher truly believes that the group is much more important than the individual and success is shared, and that relationships with staff members, players and their families is what truly matters.
 
So, how does Fisher, who has been involved in coaching basketball since he graduated from Furman in 1990, and moved from the men's to the women's game in 2008, do it?  Well, the native of Fairview, N.C., says is starts with hiring and recruiting quality people who have an uncommon work ethic, a great attitude and are looking for an experience that is bigger than themselves.
 
Following a legend
When he joined the Campbell Athletics staff in 2016, Fisher not only took over one of the most successful programs in the Big South Conference, but also followed in the footsteps of a coaching legend.
 
Over the previous 35 years, Wanda Watkins led the Camels to 549 wins – which ranked 29th all-time among Division I head coaches at the time of her retirement – 135 Big South Conference victories (then the second-most in the league's history) and an ASUN record 157 triumphs.  After guiding Campbell through its transition from the NAIA to the NCAA Division I era, Watkins led her teams to eight conference title games and the program's first NCAA tournament appearance (2000).
 
"Everything we have literally started with Wanda Watkins," said Fisher, who coached against Watkins in five seasons as Big South rivals.  "From this arena to our locker room, to the respect for women's basketball, to the fans that come to the games, Coach Watkins was a pioneer for our athletic department."
 
The floor at Gore Arena was named in honor of Watkins on Nov. 18.
 
"I don't look at Coach Watkins as one of the greatest women's basketball coaches of all-time," said Fisher, who's wife Julie played collegiately at Charleston Southern.  "I think that's limiting her.  She's one of the greatest basketball coaches – men or women – and she's one of the greatest people I've ever been around.  Just like Pat Summit, she could have coached men and been a great coach."
 
Fisher joined the Campbell program after spending eight years as head coach at former Big South rival Presbyterian College.  Over his last four seasons in Clinton, S.C., Fisher's teams producing three winning seasons and was named Big South coach of the year in 2013 after he guided the Blue Hose to a 14-4 league record and the program's first postseason appearance (WBI) on the Division I level.
 
Setting a standard
Campbell was picked ninth in the 2016-17 Big South preseason poll but surprised the league by finishing in a tie for second place in the final standings.
 
"We had one focus that year," said Fisher of his 2016-17 squad.  "We wanted our team to be leaders in the athletic department.  We weren't going to miss class. We were going to make great decisions and play hard.  That's all we focused on."
 
What the Campbell faithful noticed from the opening tip of the '16-17 season opener was an overwhelming effort on defense – that continued not only throughout what proved to be a 21-win season, but also in the eight campaigns to follow.
 
Fisher's first Campbell team set a Big South record for scoring defense – allowing just 49.6 points per game – and led the nation in the category.  In CU's final seven seasons in the Big South, the Camels led the league in scoring "D" six times, including the last four years.
 
Under the guidance of Fisher and his staff, Campbell is the only team in the nation to rank among the top 25 in scoring defense in each of the last seven years.  Six times in that span, the Camels finished in the top 10.
 
On 98 occasions over the last seven-plus seasons, the Camels have held their foes to 50, or fewer, points in a game, including 41 times when CU foes have failed to score more than 40 points.
 
Why focus on the defensive end of the floor?  Simple.  It's within one's control.
 
"I know that we can control our effort and working together as a team, and defense is just that" said Fisher, who credits his mentor, longtime Presbyterian men's basketball coach Gregg Nibert for instructing him on how to teach defense.  "We put a ton of emphasis on what we can control.  Our goal every night is to be the most prepared team and to give the greatest effort and play together on defense.  We know that we can control that."
 
Even with a squad that has employed long-range shooting and moving the ball in its offensive arsenal, Fisher knows that sometimes a team must grind out a win in the 50s.
 
"Unfortunately, on the offensive end, some days we execute great, get wide open shots, but just cannot control that ball going into the basket sometimes.  It just happens," said Fisher.  "But we feel like if we can do our job on defense and have a great scoring night, we can win by 20 or 30 maybe.  If we don't, we can win an ugly game 49-48.  If you have that mind set, it creates confidence, and you don't put so much pressure on your offense."
 
Whereas most statistical categories focus on an individual's offensive production, defensive success relies on unity.  That quality is amplified when a team must win three, or sometimes four, games to earn a bid into the NCAA tournament.
 
"We're a tournament sport," said Fisher.  "The odds of you having a great offensive game for three-straight nights – it doesn't happen often.  You can survive and advance some nights if you're a great defensive team."
 
Fisher's teams have proven that fact twice in the last three seasons by reaching the Big South final in both 2021 and 2022.
 
Who fits into the Camel program?
"The first thing we look for in recruiting is toughness," said Fisher.  "If you can get a kid to last, they'll be a good defensive player by the time they are a sophomore or junior because they'll get the reps.  In order to last, you have to be tough."
 
Fisher credits his staff, including assistants Megan Hall and Lindsay Bowen, who have been with him since he took over the program, for identifying and bringing the type of student-athlete that will succeed on and off the floor at Campbell.
 
Hall, who spent 11 seasons on Watkins' staff, sees similar qualities in both Camel head coaches that align with her beliefs.
 
"First and foremost, who they are and their faith," said Hall of Fisher and Watkins.  "They genuinely are about each of us individually.  Both are big on who we bring to this team."
 
Hall also points out the fact that both Fisher and Watkins are students of the game and their players improve over the course of their careers.
 
"Their tenacity as a coach, their brain, but they also have that relationship with their players to get the best out of them," said Hall.  "We try to get the best prospects, and we get the most out of the kids we bring into this program."
 
Fifth-year senior Brittany Staves, who has already graduated with a degree in kinesiology/pre-physical therapy and is working on an MBA, says that Campbell's players feel a special bond.
 
"We're just one big family," said Staves, who was named the Big South scholar-athlete of the year in 2023.  "It's really a sisterhood.  Everybody wants the best for the person beside them.  You feel valued, you're loved."
 
Staves was the third of three-straight Big South scholar-athlete of the year winners to wear a Camel uniform.  Lauren McNamara-Clement was the 2021 recipient, followed by Taya Bolden one year later.
 
McNamara-Clement was set to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before a knee injury in her senior season at Raleigh's Leesville Road High School.  During her time at Campbell, McNamara-Clement not only played a key role in Campbell's 2020 Big South regular season title, but she also served as Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president and was chosen to participate in the NCAA Student-Athlete Engagement Group.  She capped her career by earning a spot on the 2021 Big South all-tournament team.
 
A person who spent 20 hours a week during her senior season as a social work intern in the oncology department at Central Harnett Hospital, McNamara-Clement sees several factors that contribute to the success of Campbell's women's basketball.
 
"The standard of excellence; I never experienced people cutting corners to get to an end," said McNamara-Clement, who now serves as coordinator for student care and case manager in the University's department of Student Life.  "Attention to detail; there are no small things.  Everything's important.  The way you guard one screen could determine the end result of the game."
 
Like Staves, Shy Tuelle, the program's all-time leader in 3-pointers made, and Svenia Nurenberg, both chose to extend their collegiate careers after earning their undergraduate degrees.
 
2023-24 no different, but with a greater challenge
With 10 of 11 letter winners returning from last year's squad, Campbell got off to the program's fastest start in five years this season.  The only losses through the first nine games came at Power-5 conference members Virginia (ACC) and UCF (Big 12).
 
Through late December, the Camels led the nation in 3-point percentage defense, allowing opponents to connect on just 20 percent of their attempts beyond the arc, while ranking fifth in scoring defense (50.7) and 10th in overall field goal percentage defense (.333).
 
In addition to those three areas, the Camels also led the CAA in rebound margin (plus-8.3), 3-point field goal percentage (.359) and 3-pointers made per game (8.0).
 
"Top to bottom, the CAA is tougher (than the Big South)," Fisher admitted.  "That fact doesn't change anything we are doing in our program.  We just need to do what we do better and to the best of our ability.  If we continue to play with the same effort and continue to improve, it translates from one conference to the next."
 
Instead of a bus trip to Boiling Springs, N.C., or Farmville, Va., to open the conference season, the Camels will fly to Long Island, N.Y., to face Stony Brook in their Jan. 5 CAA opener, then play two days later at Monmouth in New Jersey.  The CAA home opener is Jan. 12 against in-state rival Elon.
 
Continuity the key
Surely having only two head coaches over the last 42 seasons, and longtime assistants on staff (Hall is in her 19th season on the Camel sideline), can play a large role in a team's success.
 
Under Fisher's watch, the Camels have averaged nearly 20 wins a season – even with the Covid-shortened '20 and '21 campaigns.  Furthermore, his team has posted a combined grade-point average of better than 3.0 in each of the last seven seasons.  The 2023 squad finished 18th nationally with a 3.59 team GPA.
 
Every player on this year's team started their career as freshmen at Campbell, which is a rarity with the influence of the NCAA transfer portal on collegiate athletics over the last half decade.
 
"We try to empower our players as owners, not renters," said Fisher.  "We try to set standards for our program, but I want (the players) to lead and hold each other accountable.  That commitment to excellence in every category is something you strive for.  Our players have owned that."
 
Sweat and Serve
Fisher speaks of wanting to have players involved in his program that "serve" their teammates, campus and community.  The program's "Sweat and Serve" motto grew out of a 2018 trip to the Dominican Republic, where the team competed, but also spent part of each day serving the local community.
 
During their time in the Dominican, the Camels visited a girls orphanage and spent time in areas that lacked electricity and running water.  McNamara-Clement recalls the joy that local residents shared with their visitors.
 
"I vividly remember that trip because it showed me how beautiful humanity is as a whole," said McNamara-Clement, who had not traveled outside the U.S., previously.  "Just how grateful those people were to see us, to interact with us, and how willing they were to open the doors to their homes.  It truly is about human connection and to care for each other.  These people didn't have nearly as much as we do, but they were some of the most happy and thankful people and so loving to these strangers who visited them."
 
The Camels continue to extend that willingness to serve in the local community, through their involvement with the Miracle League, the Special Needs prom night and the Lunch Buddies program at area elementary schools.
 
"Everybody loves winning; we're in athletics," said Fisher, "but what our players have accomplished academically and off the court, that's what lasts."