Growing up in southern Illinois, Dennis Pilcher first fell in love with basketball as a young kid watching University of Illinois games on television.
This love soon blossomed to Pilcher suiting up to play the game himself, as he traversed the court for North Clay High School and then for Lincoln College (IL). But an injury was about to send him down the path that his legacy would be made.
While playing baseball-the other sport Pilcher competed in during college-for Murray State University, he tore his rotator cuff, forcing him to end his playing career. However, this gave him the chance to do something that he was just as passionate about-coaching.
After graduating from Murray State, he began coaching basketball at Fancy Farm High School. He soon moved on to coach at Dyersburg State Community College (TN), where he coached men's basketball and baseball and also women's basketball near the end of his tenure there.
Being able to mold young athletes at the community college level was a perfect fit for Pilcher.
"I always wanted to coach basketball, and I always wanted to coach it at the two-year level," Pilcher said. "I feel like I can have more influence on a young man at the two-year level than I can at the four-year level."
The demands of coaching three sports at once caught up to him at Dyersburg State, so he decided to move on once more.
In 1979, Pilcher applied to became the head basketball coach at Iowa Central. He received the position and still coaches the Tritons today. Yet Pilcher never thought he still be leading the Tritons on the court 35 years later when he took the job.
"When my wife and I came to [Iowa Central], I told her we will be here for two or three years, and then, we will move on," Pilcher said.
Pilcher has had many chances to leave Iowa Central over the years, but he turned each of them down. He said his reason for staying was because he saw the Fort Dodge area as the best place to raise his family.
"Iowa Central has been good to me and my family," Pilcher said. "I had a few opportunities, but I stayed here."
Pilcher has put together a lengthy coaching resume patrolling the sideline of the court for the Tritons. He is 13th in all-time wins and sixth in wins by an active coach with 784.
Picher was also voted into the NJCAA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2011 and had the home court at Iowa Central named after him in 2013.
Even with all of his accomplishments, one thing that Pilcher hasn't done is win a national championship.
"I got a lot of wins," Pilcher said. "But also, I never had an opportunity to win a national championship. Some people might say, 'well he isn't a very successful coach, he has never won a national championship ring.' I don't look at it that way. To me, success is going graded on how well they perform."
"My job is to make basketball players do the things that they don't want to do so they become the basketball player they want to be," Plicher added.
Coaching hasn't been the only thing Pilcher had success in during his time at Iowa Central. In 1990, he became the athletic director at the college.
He retired from the job in 2010 to focus purely on coaching basketball again, but not before turning the athletics at Iowa Central around. He added 12 new programs in the 20-year span and won the NATYCAA Cup Trophy five times.
Pilcher will enter his 47 year as a coach next season. He said he is takes it year by year in decided if he will return to the court. But it seems like, at least for now, his heart is in the job.
"It is going to depend on my mental attitude towards coaching," Pilcher said. "When it becomes a job and no longer fun I will get out of it, easily."
Rick Sandquist, Iowa Central's current athletic director said, however, there will always be spot in for Pilcher within Iowa Central Athletics.
"[Pilcher] can stay as long as he wants," Sandquist. "He probably takes it year by year, but he still has that passion and is driven to teach."
When Pilcher retires from coaching, assistant coach Chad Helle will likely take over head coaching duties. Helle has severed as Pilcher's assistant coach for the past 15 years, but he is in no hurry for him to leave.
"All I can say is, I would love the opportunity," Helle said. "Nothing is for sure. I know filling his shoes will not be an easy thing, but I definitely would like the opportunity to have a chance. Now whether that happens or not, time will tell. But for now, I love being the assistant coach. I am in no hurry. If coach wants to keep going, by all means, go ahead."
Once it is all said and done, Plicher wants to be remembered as a coach that got all he could from his players to not just make them successful in basketball but also successful in life.
"I hope I am remembered as a coach that got a lot out of his players, and they got something more out more than just basketball here," Pilcher said. "I hope they learned that if they work hard and come together as a team, they will have a lot of success."
