Dane Fife was the most recent addition to Tom IzzoThe Michigan state basketball team came on board in April 2011, after Mark Montgomery was hired as a senior coach for Northern Illinois. Fife is now the most recent departure, as announced on Monday he accepted an assistant position in Indiana, your alma mater.
During the Fife decade working with Izzo at MSU, the Spartans achieved nine NCAA tournaments and won four Big Ten regular season championships and four conference tournament titles. Now that their time together is over, Izzo has released the following statement:
“I am thrilled that Dane has this opportunity in Indiana. He is having a chance to return to his alma mater and it is an opportunity to return to a place that he and his wife considered a second home. Dane has been a great asset to our program for the past 10 years and it has been a big part of the success we have had. He is a born coach, has been working hard and has been committed to the state of Michigan since the second he arrived here. We will obviously miss him, Blair and his daughters, Quinnly and Reagan, but we wish him well as he takes the next step in his career and returns to his alma mater. “
Fife released its own statement thanking Izzo and the MSU basketball community.
Born in Clarkston, Fife graduated in Indiana in 2002, helping the Hoosiers to reach the national championship and winning the title of Defense Player of the Year as one of the top ten. In 2005, the IPFW hired Fife as its head coach at the age of 25. He spent six seasons training the Mastodons, going 82-97 overall, before moving to Izzo’s team.
Dwayne Stephens, Mike Garland and Fife formed one of the longest serving coaches on college basketball. As Izzo enters his 27th year as head coach, another change is underway.
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