Sources: Fisher retiring at SDSU
SAN DIEGO — Steve Fisher is retiring from a basketball coaching career that includes a national championship at Michigan, directing the Fab Five and then turning San Diego State from a laughingstock into a West Coast power.
Two people with knowledge of the situation said Monday that Fisher, 72, is retiring after 18 seasons at SDSU.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because Fisher’s decision hasn’t been announced by the school.
The school scheduled a news conference for today. The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported that Fisher was retiring.
Fisher didn’t return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment. He had one year remaining on a three-year contract extension he signed in November 2014.
SDSU has been prepared for Fisher’s retirement for several years. It designated his longtime assistant, Brian Dutcher, as the head coach in waiting in 2011, when Fisher signed a contract extension. Since then, Fisher and his wife, Angie, have talked after every season about his future.
Fisher, Dutcher and Athletic Director John David Wicker are scheduled to be at the news conference today. Fisher’s son, Mark, is expected to remain with the program.
Fisher arrived at the school in 1999. The Aztecs finished 19-14 and failed to make a postseason tournament or win 20 games for the first time in 12 seasons. SDSU made a school-record six consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament from 2010-2015, including reaching its first two Sweet 16s. The Aztecs reached the NIT semifinals in 2016. Fisher was 386-209 at SDSU. While his revival of SDSU’s program was remarkable, Fisher will probably be best remembered as the “Michigan Man” who led the Wolverines to the 1989 national title and later coached the Fab Five.
After Bill Frieder accepted the Arizona State job on the eve of the 1989 NCAA Tournament, then-Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler angrily decreed that “a Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man.”
Fisher was promoted to replace Frieder and coached the Wolverines to the title. The Fab Five would follow, as would two more appearances in the title game and then Fisher’s firing in October 1997 because of the program’s involvement with booster Ed Martin. Michigan vacated its participation in the 1992 and 1993 Final Fours.
SDSU made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and five in the NIT under Fisher.