Stephen Fishler enters his third season as the Chief of Staff for Rutgers women’s basketball. Fishler rejoins head coach Coquese Washington for a second time after serving as a manager and a graduate assistant at Penn State from 2012-17.
Fishler helms the administrative operations of the program, working closely with Washington on various aspects, including budget management, ticketing and marketing. He also manages communication with season ticketholders and the women’s basketball booster club, The Cagers Club.
In addition, Fishler is the team’s primary liaison to the athletic department’s internal support units including compliance, oversight for all player NIL activities and required reporting, and the R Fund, which champions women’s basketball fundraising initiatives. He works with external units as well, collaborating with marketing, sports information and brand advancement on social media and communications initiatives.
He organized and planed the Scarlet Knights’ summer 2023 foreign tour to Greece and Croatia as well as serving as director of Rutgers Girls Basketball Camp.
Prior to Rutgers, Fishler served as the director of basketball operations with the Elon University women’s basketball program for five seasons. With Elon, Fishler oversaw all logistical day-to-day operations including team travel, budget maintenance/oversight, student manager supervision, summer camps, community and alumni out-reach and player personal development. He also served as a liaison between the program and internal and external constituents.
In his first year with the program, Elon reached the NCAA Tournament after taking the 2018 CAA Tournament title. While with the Phoenix, Fishler spearheaded fundraising efforts for Play4Kay, raising over $10,000 in the annual Free Throw Challenge to rank No. 1 in the country in 2020. He also facilitated 850+ hours of team community service hours.
Fishler joined Elon after spending five seasons with the Penn State women’s basketball program under Coach Washington. He served as a manager from 2012-14 before being promoted to head manager from 2014-16. He then served as a graduate assistant in 2016-17.
While with the program, Fishler was responsible for breaking down opponent game film, filming both home and away contests and all practices and creating film session videos, among other responsibilities assigned. He also spent three summers assisting with Penn State’s basketball camps. While with the Lady Lions, Fishler also took on the responsibility of creating original content such as the team’s intro video and all recruiting materials. His efforts helped to land the No. 15 class of 2015 as ranked by ESPN.
In his time at Penn State, Fishler also worked with the PSU Athletics Event Management staff all five years in State College, Pa. He worked in the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student Athletes (MASCSA), where he assisted with Athletic Directors Leadership Institute (ADLI) and coordinated redesign efforts for the Center’s website.
Additionally, Fishler assisted with the planning and execution of several Big Ten and NCAA Championship Tournaments including the 2013 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship, 2014-15 NCAA and Big Ten Soccer Championships and the 2017 Big Ten Women’s Track & Field Championship.
Fishler is also active in the WBCA and during the 2021-22 season served as a peer-to-peer mentor to other Basketball Director of Operations across the country.
The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania native earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Penn State in 2016 and completed his master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction, also at Penn State, in 2017. As part of the program, Fishler taught 9th grade English for the entire academic year at State College Area High School. A consummate learner, Fishler also completed his master’s in Business Administration from Elon University in 2021.
