Months of controversy and speculation culminated in the firing of Steve Fisher as Michigan men's basketball coach, Athletic Director Tom Goss announced Saturday.
Goss said the decision was entirely his own and that Fisher was never offered the option to resign.
"I have decided that it is time to make a change in the head men's basketball coach at the University of Michigan," Goss said. "To change the program was my decision. To hire a new coach will be my decision."
A national search for a successor will begin immediately and conclude as soon as possible, Goss said. Assistant coach Brian Ellerbe will serve as interim coach and lead practices, which are scheduled to begin Saturday.
Goss met with Fisher on Friday afternoon for a general discussion on the future of the program. He said he had no prior intention to fire him.
"I didn't know. I was very open-minded. I was ready for the meeting to go either way," Goss said.
Saturday's announcement came just two days after the release of a 250-page report detailing a private law firm's investigation into the University's basketball program. The seven-month investigation uncovered only three minor violations, despite prior allegations of major NCAA infractions.
Goss said, however, that the report did not directly influence his decision on the coach's future.
"That report was not the driving factor. I took the report and I set the report aside on the table," Goss said. "I talked with Steve more in terms of philosophies, where we want to head as a team, and as an Athletic Department."
At the time of the report's release, Goss and University President Lee Bollinger said there were problems within the program that needed to be addressed, and therefore neither would comment on the security of Fisher's job.
Former Michigan player Loy Vaught, a member of the 1989 NCAA Championship team that Fisher guided through the tournament, suggested Fisher was being used as a scapegoat.
''My feeling is that he might be taking some heat for things that were kind of out of his control,'' said Vaught, who is now with the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA. ''It's very unfortunate because I know Steve Fisher and I can say that he doesn't cheat. It's just real unfortunate that he had to be forced to leave.''
During the first month of his tenure, Goss repeatedly has stressed the importance of making players and coaches accountable for their actions, while creating "an environment to help student-athletes realize their potential - academically, athletically and socially.
"What we need to have here at Michigan is a program that is clearly focused on the student-athlete. I don't even know what our record was last year," Goss said. "That's not what's important. That's not what's important with me. Winning is an output of the things we do, of the values we have."
Goss said all athletic programs must move in the direction of several core values, including:
Goss also voiced a concern with graduation rates within the basketball program.
Fisher's dismissal was Goss's first major decision as athletic director. Goss, who stepped into the post Sept. 8, has repeatedly stressed the importance of accountability within the department.
"It's not going to be a popular decision," Goss said. "You have to go with, sometimes, the tougher decision. This is the tougher decision of the two.
"Very easily I could have gone in there and dealt with the media and said, 'Here's all the reasons why we're going to keep Coach Fisher,'" he said.
Former Michigan player Maurice Taylor, who was at the center of much recent controversy and left school earlier this year with one year of eligibility remaining, expressed his disappointment with the decision.
''He was a player's coach and everyone got along with him real well,'' said Taylor, who currently plays for the Clippers. ''He was there through the good and the bad times. He was more like a father figure to some of the guys who didn't have fathers.''
Fisher's departure may close the book on a tumultuous two years within the program. Following the University's announcement that the team committed two NCAA violations through contact with Detroit booster Ed Martin, numerous allegations of serious impropriety within the program filtered into the media.
In response to the allegations, the University hired a private law firm, which investigated the program for seven months and found no evidence of major violations within the program. It found instead that three minor violations had been incurred through contact with Martin. Also, on five occasions, Fisher inscribed former coach Perry Watson's initials on complimentary ticket orders for Martin. Fisher said he did not remember the incidences.
In accordance with a clause in Fisher's contract, the University will pay Fisher until his contract expires in August 2000. Fisher's salary for the 1997-98 season was listed at around $134,000.
Fisher's 8-year record was 184-82.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
10-13-97
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