Indiana confirmed the hiring of Dane Fife to Mike Woodson’s coaching staff on Monday afternoon.
Indiana University men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson has announced that former Hoosier player and assistant coach Dane Fife will return to his alma mater and return to the UI team. The Clarkston, Michigan native is back after spending the last 10 seasons on Tom Izzo’s team in Michigan, the last three as an associate head coach.
“Dane is someone I have always had the greatest respect for,” said Woodson. “Your knowledge of the Big Ten and your success as a recruiter will be an invaluable resource, as we seek to continue to form a team that will help elevate this program to the highest levels. I know that your love for the Hoosiers and this University appears the moment you speak to him and we are excited to welcome Dane, his wife Blair and daughters Quinnly and Reagan back to Bloomington. “
Formed by the IU in 2002, Fife took the Hoosiers to the national title game and to participate in the regular season’s Big Ten Championship. Individually, he was named defensive co-player of the year as one of the top ten. He is the career leader in Indiana with 180 steals over the course of his four-year career (1998-2002), while the 53 he recorded as a senior standings tied with the eighth best mark of a single season in the UI. With 99 points from 3 career points, he is in the top 20 in school history, while his 3-point field goal percentage of 0.478 in 2001-02 is sixth on the single-season UI chart. The 37 games he started as a senior set the benchmark for a single season for Indiana, while the 131 games he played throughout his career drew sixth place at all times in the UI.
He spent two seasons as an administrative assistant on the team of then Hoosier coach Mike Davis after graduation.
In 10 seasons with the Spartans, he was part of a team that produced 9 spots in the NCAA Tournament, 4 Big Ten titles, 1 participation in the Final Four, 8 All-Americans, 10 NBA Draft picks and 3 Big Ten Players of the Year.
Under the guidance of Fife, Miles Bridges and Cassius Winston reached consensus on the honors of the second All-American team for three consecutive years, Bridges in 2018 and Winston in 2019 and 2020. From 2016-18, Fife worked closely with Bridges, who was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2018 NBA Draft lottery. Winston was named Big Ten Player of the Year and set a Big Ten record and a single-season MSU brand, with 291 assists in 2019 as a junior and as a senior in 2020 , became the all-time leader in conference and school attendance, breaking Mateen Cleaves’ 20-year record. He was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft 2020. The Spartans led the country in total assists in 2018-19 with 715, finished third in assists per game in 2019-20 (18.3) and ranked 11th in the assists / turnover ratio (1.45). The team’s 715 assists were the second most in a single season in the program’s history, the second consecutive year in which the Spartans ranked in the top three in the record books. Fife was also instrumental in MSU’s selection and recruitment efforts. He was among the top recruiters in several top-10 recruiting classes, including the 2016 class that included Bridges and the 2018 class that included Jaren Jackson Jr. In May 2020, The Stadium listed Fife as one of the best assistant coaches in the Big Ten.
In 2018, MSU led the country in assists per game (19.1) and ranked second in the country in total assists (670), while distributing the second highest number of assists in a single season in school history. Fife helped guide second-year guard Cassius Winston to the honors of the All-Big Ten’s third team. Winston led the conference and ranked 8th in the country in assists per game (6.9) and led the Big Ten Conference in percentage of goals by 3 points.
In 2015-16, Fife helped guide Denzel Valentine to the National Player of the Year honors, while Bryn Forbes received the honors from the Second Team’s All-Big Ten. Valentine was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 2016 NBA Draft lottery, while Forbes signed a free agent contract with the San Antonio Spurs. On the court, MSU led the country in assists per game (20.5), while setting school records for a single season of assists (719) and hitting 3 points (321).
A year earlier, Travis Trice and Valentine received the honors of the All-Big Ten. In 2013-14, Gary Harris received the honors of First Team All-Big Ten and was selected in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft, one season after becoming the first Spartan to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Keith Appling and Valentine were honored with an honorable mention in 2014. For Appling, who joined MSU as a gun owner, he won the All-Big Ten award for three consecutive seasons after developing as a gun owner.
Fife also brings the defensive intensity he possessed as a player to his coaching role, as the Spartans kept opponents below 0.400% of pitches in six of the past seven years, including the country’s leadership in defending the percentage of pitches 2017- 18 (0.367), although it was in second place nationally in 2015-16 (0.382) and 2011-12 (0.379). He is also instrumental in MSU’s selection and recruitment efforts. A May 2014 article by Jeff Goodman and Jay Bilas on ESPN.com listed Fife among the country’s top candidates for chief coach.
Prior to his arrival at East Lansing, he spent six seasons as an IPFW coach, starting in 2005-06. At the time, he was the youngest coach in Division I basketball, a distinction he maintained for five seasons. In each of its six seasons, the IPFW tied or broke its Division I-level record of victories, while Fife guided the Mastodons from independent status to the association in the Summit League. He posted a record of 82-97, including a 34-27 mark in the past two seasons, and a four-year mark of 37-35 at the conference. In its last season of 2010-11, IPFW ended with a record of 18-12. Fife mentored three artists from all conferences, including Jaraun Burrows (2008, Second Team), Deilvez Yearby (2010, Second Team) and Ben Botts (2011, Second Team). Fife was Gary Steelheads’ first choice in the 2002 CBA Draft and started five of the 34 games he played, averaging 3.4 points.
Graduated in 1998 from Clarkston (Michigan) High School, Fife received the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball Award in 1998. He also participated in the selection of McDonald’s and Parade All-America, while playing with his father Dan.
He holds two degrees in Indiana, earning a bachelor’s degree in recreation (2002) and a master’s degree in athletic administration (2005). His family includes his wife, Blair, and daughters Quinnly and Reagan.