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MSU men's basketball assistant Dane Fife to join Indiana coaching staff

April 5, 2021
MSU assistant coach Dane Fife yells from the bench in the early second half of the game as Northwestern guard Alex Marcotullio rushes past him. The Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 71-61, on March 10, 2013, at Breslin Center. Justin Wan/The State News
MSU assistant coach Dane Fife yells from the bench in the early second half of the game as Northwestern guard Alex Marcotullio rushes past him. The Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 71-61, on March 10, 2013, at Breslin Center. Justin Wan/The State News —
Photo by Justin Wan | and Justin Wan The State News

After completing another season as the associate head coach with MSU men's hoops, Dane Fife is heading home.

Fife will be added to the Indiana men's basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach under Mike Woodson for the 2021-22 season and beyond.

The news was first reported by JoJo Gentry of CBS 4 in Indianapolis on Monday afternoon. Fife was hired at Michigan State as an assistant coach in 2011.

"Today is my last day at Michigan State University as my family and I will be heading back to Bloomington, Indiana," Fife wrote in a statement on Twitter. "To be an Indiana Hoosier, as I've always said, was my dream as a little boy growing up in Clarkston, Michigan. Now, once more, I'm going to be a Hoosier."

Fife is an Indiana University alumni and played on the men's basketball team from 1998-2002. While at IU, Fife helped lead the Hoosiers squad to the 2002 national title game and collected a share of the regular-season Big Ten Championship title.

Still, he is the Indiana career leader with 180 steals over the course of his four-year career, while the lone 53 he recorded as a senior continues to rank tied for the eighth-best single-season mark.

Woodson played at Indiana from 1976-80 and was hired at Indiana on May 28, multiple sources reported. Woodson was a former NBA assistant coach and formerly the head coach of the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks.

Following his graduation from IU, Fife – who is a native of Clarkston, Michigan – held a position as an assistant coach on Mike Davis's staff from 2003-2005. From there, he moved on to become the head coach at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, where he stayed until 2011.

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Fife has been an instrumental part of MSU's scouting and recruiting efforts. He was named associate head coach prior to the start of the 2018-19 season, after seven years as an assistant coach.

"Michigan State will forever hold a place in my heart as one of the great experiences of my lifetime ... Thank you to Coach Izzo for the incredible opportunity to be a part of Michigan State Basketball. Proudly, I will walk away knowing that I had the honor and privilege of working for and learning from one of the best to ever do it," Fife said.

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