The following are transcripts from interviews conducted by Staff Writer Eddie Daniels with Land O’ Lakes coach John Benedetto and Pasco coach Tom McHugh on the retirement of Zephyrhills coach Tom Fisher…

JOHN BENEDETTO

“It’s a pretty sad day. Here’s a guy who has been the head coach over there for 20 years and has done a pretty great job. Probably the one person who has done so much more with so little. That’s what’s made him a great coach I think. And the fact that he hasn’t had a really large number of athletes, but he’s always been able to do such a great job with what he’s had.”

“Now Fisher’s gone, [Mitchell’s] Scottie Schmitz is gone. You’re talking about two coaches there with a ton of experience that won’t be on the sidelines any more.”

“Fisher was always a quiet guy, didn’t have a whole lot to say, but every time I talked to him, our conversations were always about kids and players and the game itself. He’s a great competitor. We’re going to miss that competitiveness from him. He’s probably given us more problems than any other coach has, especially defensively.”

“I always thought he was a tremendous defensive coach.”

TOM MCHUGH

“You respect the man for what he’s done for 20 years and for me, he was probably one of the hardest guys to coach against because he always did the most with the least. And he changed his game plan from game-to-game or from quarter-to-quarter.

“It was just hard to coach against him because you never knew what he would do to you. The group of kids he had, he always got the most out of them.”

“It’s kind of a shame, but if he says it’s time for him to go, he’s the man, so…”

“I’m sure he’s an icon. Whenever you think of Zephyrhills football, what do you think of first? I don’t think of Ryan Pickett or some of the great players who went trough there. The first thing I think of is that’s Coach Fisher’s team.”

“He’s always been there and it’s going to be difficult to think about Zephyrhills football without him leading it. I think it’s a very important figure. Kids going in and coming out, you always knew who the coach was going to be or what to expect. Now there’s a little bit of that doubt factor, you don’t know what to expect or who it’s going to be. It’s just going to be different for the kids.”