In 1905, while a student and player at Columbia University, Fisher began coaching the basketball team of Fordham University, leading the team to a 4–2 record while capturing All-American honors as a player and leading Columbia to its second straight national championship.
In 1906, Fisher assumed the head coaching duties at Columbia, where he would remain for ten years, during which times his teams amassed a record of 101–39 and won three Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League titles; in 1909 and 1910, Fisher simultaneously coached Columbia and St. John's University, helping the latter to a 15–5 record during his tenure.
For his work in developing the game of basketball, first as a member of a four-person committee that wrote the first rules for collegiate basketball and the editor of the resulting "Collegiate Rules Committee and Collegiate Guide" (1905–1915), and later as athletic director at Columbia (1911–1917), Fisher was inducted as a contributor into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1974.
^ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 536. ISBN978-0-345-51392-2.