Michigan State hires Dane Fife

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Fife was solid at IPFW, they were a laughingstock, now very respectful because of him.
Could be a future sucessor to Tom Izzo 10 years from now??
 

Fife to Purdue was supposedly a done deal last week until Izzo swooped in at the last minute. Painter ended up hiring Micah Shrewsberry from Butler instead.
 

On a somewhat related note Lou Dawkins who was speculated to be joining Izzo in East Lansing or Tubby in the Twin Cities ended up on the staff at Northern Illinois.
 

Why would one give up a DI HC job for an assistant job unless they knew they were getting fired soon?
 


Fife must figure his best chance to secure a better head coaching job down the line is to work with a coach/program the stature of Izzo/Michigan State. Certainly Izzo has had a lot of assistants move on to some quality head coaching gigs. ... Crean (Marquette & IU), Gregory (Dayton & Georgia Tech), Wojcik (Tulsa) and Boylen (Utah) to name a few. I certainly wouldn't think Fife's job at IPFW was in any jeopardy; he did a nice job there.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I certainly wouldn't think Fife's job at IPFW was in any jeopardy; he did a nice job there.
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I guess that's my point. There has to be something going on that's not being told to the general public. Izzo is much too young to be naming a "coach-in-waiting", and that would seem to be the only logical reason why a sitting HC would take an assistant job, even at a power school like MSU. Someone who thinks Fife is going to sit around for 8 or 9 years (or however long it takes until Izzo retires) at an assistant's pay scale is crazy.
 

doll, you finally made a good point. my guess is that he was capped out paywise at ipfw ($125,000?) and ASST MICH State probably makes that much and then he could be in line for a bigger D1 coaching job 2-3 years down the road for $500,000 +??
 

To me, it is a smart move by Dane. Though one can argue he has done well at IPFW, Dane perhaps has not done enough for the sake of his career as he needs to hit a jackpot or at least consistently produce “meaningful” results (say, making the Tourney every three years or so) in order to move up the ladder. It will only get more difficult to move up if he continues to manage respectable 11-7 (his best record yet) or 12-6 in the Summit.

I do agree that Dane can build a better resume riding the success of Izzo and MSU though the move may not give him a bigger paycheck (well, maybe he gets more money, as well).

Dane has been making smart choices throughout his basketball career. Attending IU instead of Michigan, staying with IU despite being a Knight loyalist, pursuing a coaching career right after graduation, etc. This may be no exception (despite my bias against the dude).
 



Definitely a good move for Fife. He is building his resume - surely he wants to be more than a low-major coach, which surely IPFW is ... rarely do low-major coaches get high-major HC gigs. But no doubt his experience as HC at IPFW will help him have an edge if he wants a BCS job down the line because rarely do good programs hire a coach without collegiate HC experience. He will be in good shape to get a BCS coaching job in a few years as long as MSU does fairly well.
 

He did good a job at IPFW and he probably was tired of having little no support, IPFW is one of the worst jobs in the Summit and he at least made them competitive. Definitely agree that he is putting himself in good shape to get a BCS job in a few years.
 

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