San Diego State coach Steve Fisher announces retirement

Steve Fisher has called it a career after more than 26 years as a head coach at San Diego State and Michigan. Fisher won the 1989 National Championship with the Wolverines as their interim head coach after Bill Frieder was fired before the Tournament for taking the same job at Arizona State.

At SDSU, Fisher ran a clean program and transformed the Aztecs from a loser to a perennial contender and NCAA Tournament regular. The team finished with a losing record in 13 of the previous 14 seasons before Fisher took over and he had the Aztecs in the NCAA Tournament in just his third season. Fisher’s teams went to eight NCAA Tournaments and five NITs in eighteen years, twice advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.

Fisher’s career at Michigan started at the ultimate high point and he would go on to coach the famed “Fab Five,” reaching two straight national titles games in 1992 & 1993. However his tenure at Michigan ended in scandal, as both of those NCAA Tournament appearances and the entire 1992-93 season would be vacated due to NCAA violations. Fisher was fired from UM in 1997 and after a year in the NBA and a year off, took over the San Diego State program in 1999.

The Aztecs finished 19-14 and without a postseason berth this past year, but won or shared the Mountain West title in five of the last seven seasons. Fisher, 72, leaves the school as the program’s winningest coach with an overall record of 386-209.

Associate head coach Brian Dutcher, who has been on Fisher’s staff since 1989, will take over the SDSU program as head coach moving forward.