Dane Fife (born July 26, 1979) is an American former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player and assistant coach. Fife is the former head coach of the

Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) was a public university in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Founded in 1964, IPFW was a cooperatively managed regional campus of two state university systems: Indiana University and Purdue University ...

(IPFW) Mastodons men's basketball team and a former college assistant coach at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

under

Tom Izzo Thomas Michael Izzo (, ; born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has le ...

for ten years before leaving to become an assistant coach at his alma mater,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. He was let go by Indiana after one season.

Playing career

Fife played basketball and football for Clarkston High School in

Clarkston, Michigan Clarkston is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, located about northwest of downtown Detroit, Clarkston is surrounded by Independence Township, Michigan, Independence Township, but admin ...

. In basketball, he was coached by his father, Dan Fife. After his senior season in 1998, he was named Mr. Basketball of Michigan over runner-up Antonio Gates, and was also named a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...

and

Parade All-American ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers nationwide in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a read ...

. A blue-chip recruit in basketball and also a star quarterback, Fife was recruited to play both sports in college. He ultimately committed to play basketball for

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

under head coach

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...

. He chose Indiana over

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, where his father had played baseball and his older brother Dugan had played basketball. Fife became a vocal supporter of Knight, and nearly transferred from the team to Michigan State following the coach's firing in 2000. Fife was a starter for

during their 2002 NCAA runner-up campaign. He finished his career with the Hoosiers having scored 736 total points. Fife also owns Indiana's all-time steals record (180) and earned the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award his senior season. One of the more well-known plays of his college career came on a controversial call during the final seconds of a 2002 Sweet Sixteen game against

. The Blue Devils were down by four points with enough time remaining for one play when Fife was called for fouling Jason Williams on a three-point shot. Williams' shot was good, and he was given the opportunity to tie the game with a free throw. Fortunately for Fife, Williams failed to make the free throw, and the Hoosiers advanced to the Elite Eight by holding on for a 74–73 win. Fife is often asked about the play and denies committing the foul to this day. The Hoosiers continued their NCAA Tournament run, defeating Kent State and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

before falling to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

in the national championship game, 64–52. Fife played one season of professional basketball, in 2002 with the Gary Steelheads of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1998–99 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 11 , , 17.1 , , .450 , , .243 , , .683 , , 2.1 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 3.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1999–2000 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 22 , , 23.5 , , .455 , , .227 , , .800 , , 3.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , 4.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 32.9 , , .374 , , .306 , , .629 , , 2.8 , , 3.2 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 32.7 , , .461 , , .478 , , .702 , , 2.6 , , 2.5 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 8.7

Coaching career

Assistant at Indiana

Fife spent two seasons as an administrative assistant on the staff of Mike Davis at

. During his time as an assistant, he concurrently earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in athletic administration.

Head coach of IPFW

Fife was named head coach of the IPFW Mastodons basketball team in 2005 at the age of 25, becoming the youngest head coach in NCAA basketball history at the time. In his first season, he led the Mastodons to 10 wins, the most the team had earned in a season since jumping to Division I in 2001. In his fifth season as coach, the 2009–10 Mastodons squad posted their first-ever winning record as a Division I basketball team. Upon joining the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

in the 2007–08 season, the Mastodons finished no worse than fifth place in conference play under Fife. Before the 2010–11 season, Fife had considered assistant coaching jobs at Indiana under Tom Crean and Michigan under

John Beilein John Patrick Beilein ( ; born February 5, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as a college basketball analyst for the Big Ten Network. Before being hired by the Big Ten Network, Beilein served as the head coac ...

. He ultimately remained at IPFW, where he coached the team to a program-best 18–12 record. Fife's teams at IPFW improved their winning percentage from the previous season in each year that Fife coached.

Assistant at Michigan State

Following the 2010–11 season Fife was contacted by

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

basketball head coach

Matt Painter Matthew Curtis Painter (born August 27, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former player, who is the current and 19th head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball, Purdue Boilermakers, serving in that role since 2005. He played ...

to fill the associate head coach position. On April 15, 2011, Fife withdrew his name from consideration for the Purdue job. Fife was named assistant coach at Michigan State by Tom Izzo on April 20, 2011. He replaced Mark Montgomery, who was named head coach at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

in March 2011. Fife brought the defensive intensity he possessed as a player to his role as a coach, as the Spartans held opponents below a .400 field-goal percentage from 2011 to 2015, including ranking second nationally in both 2015–16 (.382) and in 2011–12 (.379), marking the best effort by MSU since 1959. He is also instrumental in MSU's scouting and recruiting efforts. Jeff Goodman and Jay Bilas of ESPN.com named Fife one of the best head coaching candidates in the nation. On March 23, 2017, it was rumored that Fife was close to accepting the head coaching position at Duquesne, but shortly thereafter it was reported that he had declined the position. His name was also mentioned as a possibility for the vacant head coaching position at his alma mater,

, in both 2017 and 2021.

Assistant at Indiana

On April 5, 2021, it was announced that Fife would be leaving Michigan State to join

Mike Woodson Michael Dean Woodson (born March 24, 1958) is an American professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player who is the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). With coach ...

's staff at

. On March 23, 2022, Woodson announced that he had decided not to retain Fife and he would not be returning to the coaching staff.

Personal life

Fife is the son of Clarkston High School head coach and former

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

pitcher Danny Fife. He is the younger brother of former Michigan basketball captain Dugan Fife.

Head coaching record

References

External Links

Michigan State Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, Dane 1979 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Oakland County, Michigan College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons men's basketball coaches McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coaches Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Sportspeople from Clarkston, Michigan