SDSU coach, Steve Fisher

[AdaSooner]

It occurred to me when age was part of a discussion on another thread, that some of the youngsters on this board may not know much about SDSU head coach, Steve Fisher.

Fisher was an assistant at Michigan under former head coach, Bill Frieder. When Frieder accepted a job at Arizona State, Fisher was picked as the interim coach just prior to the NCAA tourney. I used to live in Michigan, so I followed his career while he was at U of M. He guided the Wolverines to a NCAA championship that year, riding on the immense talents of a player named, Glen Rice.

Fisher may be best known for signing a recruiting class that was and still is in most circles, thought to be the best class of high school players in history. The "Fab Five" included Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, who would all be high draft picks in the NBA. Fisher's all freshmen starting lineup took Michigan to the NC game two straight years, only to lose in the finals. The loss to North Carolina in the group's sophomore season came when Webber was called for a technical in the closing seconds when he called a timeout. Unfortunately, Michigan had used all of their time outs.

Fisher was fired a few years later following a scandal that involved several then current and former Michigan players, including Webber, who reportedly were paid a lot of money before and during their time at U of M. Fisher took over the program at SDSU sometime later, where he has been since 1999.

I'll add that he's a very good coach. Just thought some of you younger guys might be interested in the background of a coach who got his start coaching the "Fab Five."

 

[IndySooner]

Growing up an Iowa fan in the '80s, I know Fisher well. Good coach, but MAN did I hate him!

 

[Fishtec]

Steve Fisher has taken the SDSU BB program which was a graveyard for head coaches and made it a success! SDSU & Viejas Arena are the home of "The Show" one of the wildest, loudest student sections in the country. The Show originated the Big Heads which is now pretty much copied in all BB arenas!

 

[AdaSooner]

Like I said, Fisher is a good coach who has done a great job of making SDSU a respectable, nationally-recognized program over the years.

Since he may be an unknown to most OU fans, particularly those who are too young to be around or remember Michigan's "Fab Five" when Fisher was there, I thought they might find his background interesting on the eve of our game against the Aztecs.

 

[Fishtec]

Funny fact, Fisher used to walk around campus in 1999 with BB game tickets in his pockets. He would intro. himself as the new BB HC and hand tickets to any students that would use them. Now he just saw "his" arena sellout in August!

 

[Big Old Booger]

When Bill Self left Tulsa for Illinois, a friend of mine from my sunday school class was a big Tulsa alum. He was/is a family friend of Steve Fisher and I think Tulsa made a run at Fisher but he hadn't been at SDSU very long so I don't think he was all that interested.

 

[Laxtothemax12]

Thanks for the good info on coach Fisher. I feel so young on this board (18), I only heard of him just by watching the Fab Five on ESPN. He looked like he was thrown into a loaded Michigan team, won the title with players that werent "his", and then struggled after that until he got the fab five.

 

[JBaker]

Thanks for the good info on coach Fisher. I feel so young on this board (18), I only heard of him just by watching the Fab Five on ESPN. He looked like he was thrown into a loaded Michigan team, won the title with players that werent "his", and then struggled after that until he got the fab five.

Not really.
There were only two seasons between the National Title and the Fab Five. They went back to the tourney the next year, then lost 5 players to the NBA draft and had a down year before the Fab Five came to town.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Thanks for the good info on coach Fisher. I feel so young on this board (18), I only heard of him just by watching the Fab Five on ESPN. He looked like he was thrown into a loaded Michigan team, won the title with players that werent "his", and then struggled after that until he got the fab five.

He won the NC with Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson. In fact, that same team beat OU pretty good in Maui when we had Stacey King and Mookie (the year after we finished 2nd).

If I remember correctly, he signed the fab 5 just 2 or 3 years after the NC but I think Michigan made it to postseason play every year in those years. I used to love watching Big 10 basketball back then with Michigan and the fab 5, Ohio State and Jimmy Jackson, Purdue and Glen Robinson, Indiana with Calbert Cheaney, Alan Henderson and Damon Bailey, Illinois and Deon Thomas, man that was some great basketball.

 

[NMSooner'80]

Steve Fisher has taken the SDSU BB program which was a graveyard for head coaches and made it a success! SDSU & Viejas Arena are the home of "The Show" one of the wildest, loudest student sections in the country. The Show originated the Big Heads which is now pretty much copied in all BB arenas!

I always thought of SDSU as a sleeping giant. That's a great location for recruiting (not far from L.A., weather, scenery). Smokey Gaines used to own Gary Colson's teams at UNM, when he had Michael Cage, but they didn't do too much against the rest of the world.

Jim Brandenberg and Fred Trenkle came in with a lot of hype but did very little. Trenkle's '96 team came into the Pit and almost won, but they tanked that year (and Trenkle even got a WAC Coach of the Year vote from one of the fishwraps here in Albuquerque, before the Lobos whipped them in the rematch at SDSU :ez-roll: ).

Fisher has done a really good job ought there, when others couldn't.

 

[SuperHoops]

Was Fisher kind of "dirty" in the whole Fab 5 mess, or did it turn out that it went on behind his back with the boosters?

 

[bnastyaztecs]

Was Fisher kind of "dirty" in the whole Fab 5 mess, or did it turn out that it went on behind his back with the boosters?

Fisher was found to have "clean" hands on the issue. He is, though, still tainted by it.

 

[BigTime]

Fisher was found to have "clean" hands on the issue. He is, though, still tainted by it.

So was it mainly a Michigan booster issue?

 

[Soonerspiff]

Fisher was found to have "clean" hands on the issue. He is, though, still tainted by it.

I guess it's not really behind him. And obviously it's not in front of him. It's just... ya know?

Still, it's not like many people see Fisher and say, "Geez, look at the size at the size of that guy's taint."

 

[JBaker]

I believe the entire coaching staff was found not guilty of any wrongdoing.
I think Brian Dutcher has been with him as an assistant the whole time for instance.

 

[bnastyaztecs]

I guess it's not really behind him. And obviously it's not in front of him. It's just... ya know?

Still, it's not like many people see Fisher and say, "Geez, look at the size at the size of that guy's taint."

LOL...you guys!!

Thanks for the invite...it's going to be a good game. If you guys win, good luck.

 

[AdaSooner]

Fisher was found to have "clean" hands on the issue. He is, though, still tainted by it.

That's the way I remember it, too.

Keep in mind that the AD at the time was former Michigan football coach, Bo Schembeckler. Bo was a tough, old school kinda guy who was also known for having a quick temper. I played golf behind his group when he was still U of M's football coach. He was loud, cussed a lot and didn't mind throwing a club if he hit a bad shot. lol

I forgot to add that when Frieder took the Arizona State job, he had planned to continue coaching at Michigan through the NCAA tourney. Schembeckler wouldn't have any of that noise, so he cut Frieder loose and appointed Fisher as the interim. Why? Bo said no Arizona State coach was going to coach a Michigan team in anything.

My point is that it's not likely Fisher had much of a chance to prove he wasn't involved in the scandal. It happened on his watch, thus he had to pay the ultimate price. I understand that to some extent. When you're the man in charge, you're ultimately responsible for everything that goes on, whether it's in a company or a basketball program.

 

[StatGeek]

Slight correction to the opening post: Only Howard, Webber & Rose were high NBA draft picks. Jimmy King was a 2nd round guy that only played 1 or 2 seasons in the NBA and Ray Jackson was never drafted and he never played in the Association.

 

[Big Old Booger]

So was it mainly a Michigan booster issue?

Seems like the NCAA issues started with the class that had Tractor Traylor which was a few years after the fab 5. During that investigation is when the stuff popped up about Webber. Fishers best years besides the NC when he was interim was the 2-3 years with the Fab 5. When he was fired or resigned, they weren't very good.

 

[opsooner]

I went to the sweet 16 games in Lexington, KY in 1989 where OU, UVA, UNC, and Michigan were playing. OU lost to UVA (an upset) in that round and Michigan beat UNC and then UVA. You could tell they were on a roll and would likely win it all that year. Glen Rice was hitting from everywhere.

OU still had King and Blaylock that year but never were as good as they had been the year before. UVA didn't have an answer for King but we did not defend as well and did not have consistent outside shooters.