0
Baseball
vs. Ferris State
Tuesday, 2 p.m.
Fisher Stadium
The Michigan Daily
SPORTS_
Tuesday, April 11, 1989
Big day for Blue
Basketball with Bust
and press conference
(left) Michigan Athletic Director
Bo Schembechler attended the
annual Michigan Basketball Bust
yesterday and took time to greet
the players including guard
Rumeal Robinson, who won this
year's Defensive Player Award.
Senior forward Glen Rice was the
6 team's Most Valuable Player.
b (right) Michigan coach Steve
Fisher fields questions from
reporters during yesterday's
press conference. It came as no
surprise when Schembechler
named Fisher the Wolverine's
new head coach after going 6-0 in
this year's NCAA tournament as
an interim. He led Michigan to
their first ever national
championship.
Football
Spring Game
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Michigan Stadium
Page 8
"I
Fisher
Continued from Page 1
Players are ready to work on
defending their national cham-
pionship under Fisher.
"I'm happy to see they decided
this thing," Terry Mills said.
"Fisher's undefeated and has a lot of
class. He helped us win this title and
he should be here to help defend it."
Glen Rice added, "Bo was saying
he wanted a Michigan man, and
everyone on the team and in state
feels Fisher is the best Michigan
man for the job."
Particularly appealing to
Schembechler was the way Fisher
handled himself under pressure
during the tournament aid his strong
interest in the players.
"Fisher will run a player-oriented
program in the best interests of the
guys who play," Schembechler said
of his choice. "I think Steve is a
forceful disciplinarian even though
he doesn't give you that im-
pression."
Fisher added: "I know the type of
program Steve Fisher wants and it
parallels the type of program Bo
wants. And this will be Steve
Fisher's program."
Blue Banter
Schembechler showed he hasn't
lost his feel for humor, last night at
the annual Basketball Bust. A few of
his thoughts...
-On Sean Higgins: "My favorite
player, he's going to be a great
player some day or I'm gonna kill
him, is Sean Higgins. He's a friend
of mine in case you don't know."
-On Mills: "I like this Mills.
When the big boys in the paint start
to push him around, he could hold
his own. We could put 25 or 30
pounds on him and line him up at
the other tackle."
-On the coaching situation:
"Right after the tournament, I re-
ceived letters of congratulations,
saying 'Now you should hire Fisher
to coach Michigan.' Two or three
days later, letters came in saying
'What the hell are you waiting for to
name him coach.' A couple of days
ago, a letter came in 'You
sonofabitch...'
APPLY NOW!
Michigan Telefun d
E-xp-e-r- i e-n-c-e - T-h-a-t -"P a-y-s
Rib
Continued from Page 1
"I'm excited and yes, I'm proud,"
Fisher said. "This is going to be a
new program, a program of which
Bo Schembechler and Michigan
President James Duderstadt can be
proud."
Shock the world.
Fisher is the only undefeated
coach in America and has become
the national icon for assistant
basketball coaches everywhere. Vol-
umes of letters to Schembechler
gave the athletic director an idea of
who he should hire.
"During the tournament, I got
some letters that said I should give
him a chance," Schembechler said.
"After the tournament, I got some
more that said I should hire him
immediately. Just the other day, I
picked up a couple saying, 'You son
of a bitch."'
"I've never heard of an undefeated
head coach getting fired," Terry
Mills said during the tournament.
Neither had Schembechler.
Shock the world.
Fisher steered a team that had
declared itself on a "mission," to its
eventual goal. In the process, spec-
tators were entitled to see a Mich-
igan team with more confidence and
more desire.
It was amazing how different the
players reacted to their new leader-
ship. Mills, who had been labelled
generously "inconsistent" all season,
responded with the best six-game
stretch of his career. He is the
epitome of what Fisher did with the
Wolverines.
"He's a people's coach." Lov
Vaught said before the Final Four.
"We're enjoying ourselves again.
The game of basketball should be
fun."
"I don't have to worry about
making a mistake and ending up on
the pine," Demetrius Calip added.
That sentiment about Fisher
struck a familar chord with Schem-
bechler. "It will be a player-oriented
program. Just like the football
program."
Shock the world.
After the two interviews Schem-
bechler had with Fisher last Wednes-
day and Friday, he was convinced of
who his choice should be. He
conducted no other interviews out-
side of Fisher and no one was ever
contacted in person or invited to Ann
Arbor for an interview/visit.
During the search, there were
rumors surrounding Indiana coach
Bob Knight, who Schembechler said
he would talk to about his coaching
vacancy. This was highlighted by
rumors that Knight had been seen in
Detroit Metro Airport last week.
Another rumor concerned San
Antonio Spurs head coach Larry
Brown, whose travels in his coach-
ing career would make Gulliver
cringe. Brown, who won the 1988
National Championship with Kan-
sas, supposedly expressed interest
when his team was in Detroit last
month. Brown denied everything
emphatically.
There were two Knight proteges
that were alleged candidates until
yesterday's announcement. Duke's
Mike Krzyzewski, who has taken his
team to the Final Four three of the
past four seasons, and Evansville's
Jim Crews, were gossiped to be
factors in the selection, but neither
one was interviewed. -J
"I don't know if he talked to
anyone else," Fisher said. "To tell
you the truth, I don't want to
know."
Shock the world.
There were recent allegations into
Michigan's basketball program sur-
rounding the recruitment of Mr.
Basketball in Michigan, Michael
Talley. The 6-foot-2 inch guard, who
is driving around a new 1989
Mustang convertible that was pur-
chased by his grandmother, was ru
mored to have beep illegally recruit-
ed by the Wolverines and Frieder.
The Michigan State program,
which was sure that it had Talley
coming to play for the Spartan's,
complained to the NCAA. I've heard
of turning green with envy. Needldes
to say, Schembechler investigated
and found nothing.
Another potential problem sterfi-
med from former Michigan star Rdy
Tarpley, who has had recent drqg
problems. Supposedly, Tarpley was
taking drugs when he was in college
and it was speculated that maybe
Fisher knew something about it.
Well, Schembechler, before his
two meetings with Fisher, knew the
speculation that spread around town
and prepared himself for the upcom-
ing discussion.
"I asked him some of the most
difficult questions that I could think
of," Schembechler concluded. "He
responded to them very well. No
matter how I analyzed it,- the choice
always came up Steve Fisher.
"I said that I would choose the
man who I felt would be the best
basketball coach for Michigan and
that man is Steve Fisher."
Shock the world.
OO
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