Indiana on Monday afternoon confirmed Dane Fife’s loan from Mike Woodson’s coaching staff.
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 rejoin the IU staff. The native of Clarkston, Michigan, is back after spending the past ten seasons on Tom Izzo’s staff in Michigan State, the last three as co-head coach.
“Dane is someone I have always had the greatest respect for,” Woodson said. ‘His knowledge of the Big Ten and his success as a recruiter will be a valuable asset, as we want to continue to build a staff that will help elevate this program to the highest level. I know his love for the Hoosiers and this University comes at the moment you speak to him and we are excited to welcome Dane, his wife Blair and daughters Quinnly and Reagan back to Bloomington. ”
Fife, a graduate of 2002, and led the Hoosiers to the national title game and part of the regular ten to ten championships. Individually, he was named senior as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He is a career leader in Indiana with 180 steal points over the course of his four-year career (1998-2002), while the 53 he recorded as a senior rank equals the eighth best single season at the IU. With 99 careers with three points, he ranks among the top 20 in the history of the school, while his 0.478-point percentage in 2001-02 is in sixth place on the IU’s single season chart. The 37 games he started as a senior have a single season in Indiana, while the 131 games he has played in the course of his career have drawn a sixth-place finish at IU.
After the study, he spent two seasons as an administrative assistant in the staff of then-Hoosier Coach Mike Davis.
In ten seasons with the Spartans, he was part of a staff that included 9 NCAA Tournament berths, 4 Big Ten titles, 1 Final Four appearance, 8 All-Americans, 10 NBA drafts and 3 Big Ten Players of the Year manufactured.
Under Fife’s leadership, Miles Bridges and Cassius Winston achieved consensus in the second team All-American honors in three consecutive years, Bridges in 2018 and Winston in 2019 and 2020. From 2016-18, Fife works closely with Bridges, who through the Los Angeles was chosen. Angeles Clippers in the lottery of the 2018 NBA draft. Winston was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and set a Big Ten record, and an MSU season mark, with 291 assistants in 2019 as junior and, as senior in 2020, the leading leader in assists in the conference and school, which broke a 20-year record held by Mateen Cleaves. He was selected in the second round for the 2020 NBA draft. The Spartans led the country in 2018-19 with 715 in total, 7th in third place in the match in the match in 2019-20 (18.3) and the no. 11 in the aid / turnover ratio (1.45). The team’s 715 assistants were the second most in a single season in program history. For the second year in a row, the Spartans were among the top three in the record book. Fife was also instrumental in the investigation and recruitment of MSU. He was one of the main recruiters in several top-10 recruiting classes, including the 2016 class that included Bridges and the 2018 class that Jaren Jackson Jr. did. included. In May 2020, The Stadium named Fife as one of the top assistant coaches in the Big Ten.
In 2018, MSU led the country in assists per game (19.1) and ranked number 2 in the country in total assists (670), handing out the second most assistants in a single season in school history. Fife helped lead second baseman Cassius Winston to the All-Big Ten third team. Winston led the conference, and was number 8 in the country, in assists per game (6.9) and led the Big Ten Conference in a three-point field goal percentage.
In 2015-’16, Fife helped lead Denzel Valentine to the National Player of the Year honors, while Bryn Forbes earned the second-team All-Big Ten honors. 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 track, MSU led the country in assists per game (20.5), while setting single-season records for assistants (719) and scoring 3 points (321).
One year earlier, Travis Trice and Valentine had won the All-Big Ten honors. In 2013-’14, Gary Harris earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors and was selected in the first round of the 2014 NBA draft, one season after becoming the first Spartan ever to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year has been designated. Keith Appling and Valentine were honored in 2014. For Appling, who entered MSU as a shooting guard, he earned All-Big Ten honors three consecutive seasons after developing as a point guard.
Fife also brings the defensive intensity he possesses as a player to his role as coach, as the Spartans have kept opponents at a field goal percentage of 0.400 in six of the past seven years. 2017-18 (.367), while they finished second in 2015-16 (.382) and 2011-12 (.379). He is also instrumental in the research and recruitment of MSU. In an article in May 2014 by Jeff Goodman and Jay Bilas on ESPN.com, Fife lists the top head coach candidates in the country.
Before arriving in East Lansing, he spent six seasons as head coach at IPFW, starting in 2005-06. At the time, he was the youngest head coach in Division I basketball, a distinction he held for five seasons. In each of its six seasons, IPFW has broken or broken its record for Division I victories as Fife led the Mastodons from independent status to membership in the Summit League. He set an 82-97 record, which has had a 34-27 mark the past two seasons, and a 37-35 four-year mark in the conference. In its final season of 2010-11, IPFW finished with an 18-12 record. Fife accompanied three artists to the conference, including Jaraun Burrows (2008, second team), Deilvez Yearby (2010, second team) and Ben Botts (2011, second team). Fife was Gary Steelheads’ first round of the 2002 CBA draft and started five of the 34 games in which he played, averaging 3.4 points.
Fife, who graduated from Clarkston High School (Mich.) In 1998, graduated in 1998 with the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award received. He was also a McDonald’s and Parade All-America pick, while playing for his father Dan.
He holds two degrees in Indiana and earned 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.