Indy Star does Q&A with Dane Fife

Q: You’re one of the last heralded recruits to get out of the state that coach Izzo really wanted. Do you think if you would have come along years later, after MSU’s ride, that you would have had any inkling of wanting to go to Indiana?

Fife: My desire to go to Indiana was instilled when I was 6 years old. I watched Indiana and Michigan, 1985 for the Big Ten title. Bill Frieder sent my dad a VHS tape. It was the first VHS tape I’d ever watched. And I just became fascinated with how the announcers were talking about Indiana — Bob Knight, Indiana’s offense, defense. And I think Indiana lost by 25, but it was my destiny right there. It was just always a dream. Had Jud Heathcote sent my dad the first tape of the 1985 Scott Skiles team, it might have been different. (I was) pretty trivial back then (at age 6), pretty superficial. And then the movie ‘Hoosiers’ comes along, which just further emphasizes, ‘This is where I belong.’

Q: How has your relationship with coach Izzo changed in four years?

Fife: He’d always been a friend and a big supporter, a mentor. His friend Steve Wickens describes it as, my relationship with coach reminds me of his relationship with Jud. For all intents and purposes, it was described as tough love. Is it easy working for Coach Izzo? No. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be extremely hard. If you want to win at this level, you have to bring it every day. And Coach drives it home to us every day. But I think in the end, you know he gives a damn about you. He’d go to the end of the earth to help you. It’s a very good working relationship. Is it easy? No. And I don’t want it to be. In fact, I remind him sometimes to teach me, help me, help me learn. If you see me doing something wrong, don’t sit back, drive it home, make sure I’m doing it right. Because I want to be able to coach at the level that he is. In fact, coaching is one thing, winning is another. I want to be able to win at the level that he does. And I’ll take some good, some bad away if I ever get my own program again.

Q: How different is it [recruiting] here versus IPFW?

Fife: There’s a lot more at stake for kids generally at this level. And they’re a lot more under the microscope. I feel bad for the people that work with these kids. Because they know that there’s a lot of … people are trying to make a buck off of them, so they’re very apprehensive. Very mistrusting. I think what we try to do is be as honest and up front as possible. We pick the people that we think are generally going to be easy recruiting from the standpoint that we’re not dealing with people who are generally going to ask us for money or ask us to circumvent the rules. For me, I’m pretty fortunate because that’s not what Michigan State does. The stuff we’re describing is out there. Michigan State doesn’t deal with it. And if it starts to occur, we remove ourselves.

Blanch32 wrote:He gone

SpartanInNH wrote:

Blanch32 wrote:He gone

I dunno. I thought it was pretty telling that a friend of Izzo's refers to Izzo & Fife's relationship as being similar to Jud and Izzo's. Is Fife going to turn down gigs? Doubt it, but he certainly knows that he is getting a lot out of being an assistant under Izzo ("Do I think I’m ready for another head coaching job? I do think I’m ready. Am I ready to leave Michigan State? No. But if the right opportunity comes, obviously I’d have to look at it because there’s only 350 Division I head jobs in the world. I think if any of us get the right opportunity, we’ve got to take a look at it").

Never thought about it before this piece, but now I wonder if Izzo is grooming Fife to replace him, the way Jud groomed Izzo.

Death Roe wrote:Fife should stay, he seems to be a suitable replacement for Izzo once he hangs 'em up.

Blanch32 wrote:

Death Roe wrote:Fife should stay, he seems to be a suitable replacement for Izzo once he hangs 'em up.

Would rather see a proven HC. Given this is Izzo's call

Nordic wrote:

Blanch32 wrote:

Would rather see a proven HC. Given this is Izzo's call

I remember people thinking the same thing back in '95....

tGreenWay wrote:

Nordic wrote:

I remember people thinking the same thing back in '95....

Yep, and TI took a lot of heat the first couple of years. A lot.  

Floyd Robertson wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:

Yep, and TI took a lot of heat the first couple of years. A lot.  

Good thing the internet was barely a thing 20 years ago or Fizzo might not have lasted.

Floyd Robertson wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:

Yep, and TI took a lot of heat the first couple of years. A lot.  

Good thing the internet was barely a thing 20 years ago or Fizzo might not have lasted.

DWags wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:

I should also mention that Vlad, as Vik in SB, was his usual miserable self on the original tRCMB. It was before I had a decent understanding of internet trolls, and he was an early adopter of that persona. Or he was just an asshole. You choose.

You know my choice.

Floyd Robertson wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:

Yep, and TI took a lot of heat the first couple of years. A lot.  

Good thing the internet was barely a thing 20 years ago or Fizzo might not have lasted.

tGreenWay wrote:

DWags wrote:

You know my choice.

Same as most of us, I reckon.

Blanch32 wrote:

Floyd Robertson wrote:
Good thing the internet was barely a thing 20 years ago or Fizzo might not have lasted.

MaDE a Web page on aol, and put izzo on blast. Told her better deliver in 1998 or adios! Good thing he took it to heart.