Steve Fisher, head basketball coach at San Diego State, has decided to retire, according to ESPN. Fisher is best known for leading Michigan to a national championship in 1989 and coaching the Fab Five in the early 90s.
Steve Fisher, who coached the Fab Five, will retire at age 72
Fisher coached at Michigan in the 90s, and has spent nearly two decades at San Diego State.
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The 72-year-old Fisher has coached at San Diego State since 1999, where he has led the Aztecs to the tournament eight times and to the Sweet 16 twice. He also coached Kawhi Leonard in 2010 and 2011, who has now developed into an NBA MVP candidate. This season, the Aztecs went 19-14 in the Mountain West but didn’t make a tournament for the first time since 2005. Fisher retires just five wins short of 500 for his career with a 495-288 record.
Fisher became the head coach at Michigan under strange circumstances in 1989, when the head coach at the time, Bill Frieder, agreed to take on another job late in the season. Though he intended to finish out his year with the Wolverines, Michigan’s athletic director instead fired him and promoted Fisher off the bench. To the surprise of everyone, Michigan went on to win the national championship that season thanks to an incredible run by Glen Rice.
In 1991, Michigan recruited the most highly touted freshman class in college basketball history. The story of the Fab Five is well known, with the young stars — Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, and Juwan Howard — leading the Wolverines to the national championship game only to fall to Duke. In a second season, they did it again, only to lose to North Carolina in part due to Webber’s infamous timeout.
In 2011, Fisher was awarded the Naismith College Coach of the Year, and in 2015, the Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.
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