Fulk rejoins Crossroads as assistant coach
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com
HENDERSON — Less than two years ago, Asher Fulk served as key centerpiece toward building Crossroads Christian into a perennial state title contender in men’s basketball.
Fulk is returning to a similar role on the sideline when the 2022-23 season commences in the winter, when he will serve as an assistant coach to Scottie Richardson as Crossroads pursues its first N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A championship.
Leadership is something that Fulk has always considered to be one of his main strengths, which is why he is looking forward to working alongside Richardson and guiding the current group of Crossroads players towards success.
“It feels great to come back to Crossroads,” Fulk said. “I don’t think things will be too different because my relationship with Scottie was always much deeper than just being a player and coach. Everyone is always super welcoming at Crossroads, so this is going to be fun for sure.”
Fulk arrived at Crossroads the same time as Richardson back in 2018 and gradually became one of the team’s most trusted players throughout his three year career.
Although players like Taylor Bell, Zach Murphy and Andres Prince primarily took care of scoring for Crossroads, Fulk always had a presence on the court. His determination resulted in his production gradually increasing, with Fulk ending his senior season by averaging 11.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals through 11 games.
Learning from Richardson is what inspired Fulk to immediately jump into coaching as an assistant for Trinity Academy while studying at N.C. State University. Now that he’s back at Crossroads, Fulk is eager to bounce ideas off Richardson so he can further develop his own style of coaching.
“Scottie is so good at managing people,” Fulk said. “He has a sales background, so Scottie excels at selling the team on whatever he feels we need to do to be successful. That really shaped my view of coaching because the teamwork attributes are more important than the plays you run.”
Richardson knew that Fulk had the qualities to one day be a coach of his own with the amount of work he put in each day.
Having Fulk come aboard for the 2022-23 season provides an entirely new dimension to men’s basketball at Crossroads for Richardson, who said Fulk provides tremendous insight when it comes to guiding players and understanding what goes through their minds in every possible situation.
“It really starts getting good when you can add former players to your staff,” Richardson said. “Major colleges like UNC and Duke do a great job on that end, but this adds an element you can’t put a price on. Asher has been where the players are with practices, team meetings and games. Now he’s game-planning with me, so that’s very special.”
What separated Fulk from other players for Richardson was his basketball IQ and attention to detail. On numerous occasions, Richardson, his staff or players would catch Fulk watching old basketball games on YouTube to further study the game and figure out how those techniques could be incorporated into the modern day.
Richardson added that the intuition and dedication Fulk shows toward basketball are going to provide a much-needed boost to an expanding coaching staff at Crossroads that now includes Ed Moore, who previously worked under Richardson at Neuse Christian.
Moore as yet has only met Fulk a handful of times but sees tremendous potential in his ability to lead other basketball players. Once the offseason program commences, Moore intends to work very closely with Fulk while emphasizing the importance of establishing strong relationships with everyone.
“I’m looking forward to talking with Asher more,” Moore said. “It’s not really about the Xs and Os but more so relationship-building. You can have all the Xs and Os in the world but if you don’t have great relationships with the kids and build trust with them, things aren’t going to work well. That’s a big piece of advice I’m going to give Asher.”
Like Moore, Fulk places tremendous value on caring for athletes. Rather than implement an authoritarian style of coaching, Fulk instead chooses to guide athletes and help them find solutions to potential problems in crucial game day situations.
Regarding preparation, Richardson plans to primarily use Fulk as a game day analyst. This role will involve Fulk observing game plans devised by Richardson and Moore before packaging them in a way that allows the players to thoroughly understand what is expected out of them.
Richardson sees Fulk as someone who will be another successful member of his coaching tree, which includes former players like Blake Ferguson, who just won a state championship as the head coach of Cathedral Academy in South Carolina after playing under Richardson several years ago.
The goal for Richardson while Fulk is on his staff is making sure he has everything needed to one day become a successful head coach while also giving Crossroads an extra boost from a coaching perspective in its push for a NCISAA 1A championship.
“This is kind of patterned off what the Miami Heat did when Pat Riley groomed and developed [Erik] Spoelstra,” Richardson said. “There was a lot we stole from the way the Heat organized their team that we’re currently applying on the high school level. We believe this is really going to give us an edge.”
Fulk has every reason to believe that Crossroads will finally bring home a state championship in basketball next year.
With key playmakers like John Henderson Jr. and Shane Anthony both returning to Crossroads in the 2022-23 season, Fulk said that Crossroads only continues to trend upward and is honored to help the program that shaped him keep thriving through an evolving landscape.
“There’s no shame in admitting that we want to win a state championship,” Fulk said. “More than anything, we want to play to our standard. Win, lose or draw, if we do that, we’ll be happy with the results we end up getting.”
Fulk is set to formally begin his tenure as an assistant for Crossroads when offseason workouts begin on Mar. 30.
Contact Brandon White at bwhite@hendersondispatch.com
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com
HENDERSON — Less than two years ago, Asher Fulk served as key centerpiece toward building Crossroads Christian into a perennial state title contender in men’s basketball.
Fulk is returning to a similar role on the sideline when the 2022-23 season commences in the winter, when he will serve as an assistant coach to Scottie Richardson as Crossroads pursues its first N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A championship.
Leadership is something that Fulk has always considered to be one of his main strengths, which is why he is looking forward to working alongside Richardson and guiding the current group of Crossroads players towards success.
“It feels great to come back to Crossroads,” Fulk said. “I don’t think things will be too different because my relationship with Scottie was always much deeper than just being a player and coach. Everyone is always super welcoming at Crossroads, so this is going to be fun for sure.”
Fulk arrived at Crossroads the same time as Richardson back in 2018 and gradually became one of the team’s most trusted players throughout his three year career.
Although players like Taylor Bell, Zach Murphy and Andres Prince primarily took care of scoring for Crossroads, Fulk always had a presence on the court. His determination resulted in his production gradually increasing, with Fulk ending his senior season by averaging 11.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals through 11 games.
Learning from Richardson is what inspired Fulk to immediately jump into coaching as an assistant for Trinity Academy while studying at N.C. State University. Now that he’s back at Crossroads, Fulk is eager to bounce ideas off Richardson so he can further develop his own style of coaching.
“Scottie is so good at managing people,” Fulk said. “He has a sales background, so Scottie excels at selling the team on whatever he feels we need to do to be successful. That really shaped my view of coaching because the teamwork attributes are more important than the plays you run.”
Richardson knew that Fulk had the qualities to one day be a coach of his own with the amount of work he put in each day.
Having Fulk come aboard for the 2022-23 season provides an entirely new dimension to men’s basketball at Crossroads for Richardson, who said Fulk provides tremendous insight when it comes to guiding players and understanding what goes through their minds in every possible situation.
“It really starts getting good when you can add former players to your staff,” Richardson said. “Major colleges like UNC and Duke do a great job on that end, but this adds an element you can’t put a price on. Asher has been where the players are with practices, team meetings and games. Now he’s game-planning with me, so that’s very special.”
What separated Fulk from other players for Richardson was his basketball IQ and attention to detail. On numerous occasions, Richardson, his staff or players would catch Fulk watching old basketball games on YouTube to further study the game and figure out how those techniques could be incorporated into the modern day.
Richardson added that the intuition and dedication Fulk shows toward basketball are going to provide a much-needed boost to an expanding coaching staff at Crossroads that now includes Ed Moore, who previously worked under Richardson at Neuse Christian.
Moore as yet has only met Fulk a handful of times but sees tremendous potential in his ability to lead other basketball players. Once the offseason program commences, Moore intends to work very closely with Fulk while emphasizing the importance of establishing strong relationships with everyone.
“I’m looking forward to talking with Asher more,” Moore said. “It’s not really about the Xs and Os but more so relationship-building. You can have all the Xs and Os in the world but if you don’t have great relationships with the kids and build trust with them, things aren’t going to work well. That’s a big piece of advice I’m going to give Asher.”
Like Moore, Fulk places tremendous value on caring for athletes. Rather than implement an authoritarian style of coaching, Fulk instead chooses to guide athletes and help them find solutions to potential problems in crucial game day situations.
Regarding preparation, Richardson plans to primarily use Fulk as a game day analyst. This role will involve Fulk observing game plans devised by Richardson and Moore before packaging them in a way that allows the players to thoroughly understand what is expected out of them.
Richardson sees Fulk as someone who will be another successful member of his coaching tree, which includes former players like Blake Ferguson, who just won a state championship as the head coach of Cathedral Academy in South Carolina after playing under Richardson several years ago.
The goal for Richardson while Fulk is on his staff is making sure he has everything needed to one day become a successful head coach while also giving Crossroads an extra boost from a coaching perspective in its push for a NCISAA 1A championship.
“This is kind of patterned off what the Miami Heat did when Pat Riley groomed and developed [Erik] Spoelstra,” Richardson said. “There was a lot we stole from the way the Heat organized their team that we’re currently applying on the high school level. We believe this is really going to give us an edge.”
Fulk has every reason to believe that Crossroads will finally bring home a state championship in basketball next year.
With key playmakers like John Henderson Jr. and Shane Anthony both returning to Crossroads in the 2022-23 season, Fulk said that Crossroads only continues to trend upward and is honored to help the program that shaped him keep thriving through an evolving landscape.
“There’s no shame in admitting that we want to win a state championship,” Fulk said. “More than anything, we want to play to our standard. Win, lose or draw, if we do that, we’ll be happy with the results we end up getting.”
Fulk is set to formally begin his tenure as an assistant for Crossroads when offseason workouts begin on Mar. 30.
Contact Brandon White at bwhite@hendersondispatch.com
