After months of silence, former Michigan men's basketball coach Steve Fisher defended his reputation and expressed displeasure about the manner in which he was fired.
Fisher's supporters and all 12 members of the basketball team stood and applauded as he entered the press conference at the Sheraton Inn on South State Street yesterday. Fisher donned a blue and yellow tie and proclaimed himself a "Michigan man."
"I've always been a team player," Fisher said. "I always thought I've got nothing that needs defending and when the truth comes out, it's going to be fine."
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| MARGARET MYERS/Daily At the Sheraton Inn in Ann Arbor yesterday Steve Fisher held his own press conference yesterday, which was attended by many of the Michigan men's basketball players. Fisher gave his own version of events leading to his being fired on Friday.< |
Just six days before basketball practice was scheduled to begin, Athletic Director Tom Goss announced Saturday that Fisher had been fired.
Michigan guard Travis Conlan said Fisher's dismissal will be extremely difficult for the team to overcome.
"It crushes everything," Conlan said. "It's my senior year. We had a successful year to look forward to until this happened. We lost the father figure of our family."
Fisher said the University did not handle the situation correctly. Fisher said he has kept silent during the investigation under the recommendation of the University and was promised to receive a copy of the report before it was released to the media and the public.
"I was asked by our administration, for the benefit of the University of Michigan, to allow one voice to speak for the Athletic Department," Fisher said. "President (Lee) Bollinger said I would get a copy of the report and would get a chance to review the report before the public."
Fisher, who was vacationing in Florida at the time of the report's release Thursday, said Bollinger broke his promise, and said that he was not given ample time to return from his vacation before the report was released.
"I didn't and don't feel that is how it should have been handled," Fisher said. "I thought it was strange 1. They would have a press conference without me being there, and 2. I vividly remember them saying I would get a copy of the report first."
Bollinger said that he did not remember promising Fisher a copy of the report.
"I said that he would be regularly and fully informed about all things in the ongoing investigation involving him," Bollinger said. "That promise was fully kept. He should not end up being surprised by anything in the report."
Most players said they want assistant coach Brian Dutcher to be the new permanent coach, adding that an internal replacement would "ease the pain a little bit."
"Dutcher's been here for 10 years and knows the system. It will be hard for us to induct a new guy in and respect him the way a head coach is supposed to be respected," said Michigan center and co-captain Robert Traylor. "I think it would only be fair if Brian is given a chance to coach the team."
Goss said he is currently narrowing down a list of candidates, but that an assistant coach will not be chosen for the position.
"That's not going to happen," Goss said yesterday. "I was here quite late last night meeting with the team. They all had concerns. I understand their concerns. It happened without their control. Steve was like a father to some of them. Basically it's been traumatic."
Goss said that in making decisions about the future coach, his first priority is the program and the players.
"We don't make changes in coaches very often at Michigan," he said. "It's not my plan to make changes in coaches very often. When we do, we need to make sure that we place coaches with the values that I have been talking about."
Jessie Carter, Traylor's grandmother, said the University used Fisher as a scapegoat.
"They just did him wrong," Carter said. "Steve is a good man. Steve did no wrong. I know this. Fish is going to live on. No one is going to be like Steve. I want them to think about Steve - and every time they think about Steve - win. I don't want them to think about this new coach."
Carter said her grandson would not have stayed at Michigan if they had known that Fisher was going to be fired. She added that the team will be successful this year because of the values Fisher instilled in the players.
"They're already trained," she said. "They're already nice young men and you know who taught them that - Steve Fisher."
Fisher said he is upset with the way people have interpreted his actions noted in the report. Fisher refuted claims by critics who have accused him of "lying and forgery."
"Don't call me dishonest," he said, speaking about suspicions that he signed the initials of former assistant coach Perry Watson on requests for complimentary tickets for Detroit booster Ed Martin.
"Don't call me a person who doesn't have integrity," he said. "I know who I am, and I know that absolutely isn't who I am."
The report stated that a handwriting analyst determined Fisher had written Watson's initials on the complimentary ticket list on five occasions. The report also stated that Fisher denied doing so.
"In no way was (the act of) initialing an authorization of the tickets," Fisher said. "In my opinion, it signified who requested the tickets. For Perry Watson, I put down his initials at least three times, signifying these were the people who wanted the tickets."
For the first time, Fisher publicly described his relationship with Martin. Fisher said he never thought Martin was a person to be feared, but that circumstances changed when Fisher discovered that Martin had sent airplane tickets to a player's family.
"I stopped it and I prevented it from happening," he said. "Before that point, I never thought Ed Martin was someone we had to be leery of."
Fisher said he has tremendous pride in the legacy he will leave in his tenure at Michigan.
"We have taken a program and built it into one of the elite programs in the country - the right way," he said.
Fisher said he has known that he has wanted to be a teacher and a coach since he was 15 years old.
"My ambition is to coach again," he said. "I'm confident I will do that in a fashion I can be proud of."
- Daily Sports Writers James Goldstein and Mark Snyder contributed to this report.
| Fisher responds |
| "I always thought I've got nothing that needs defending and when the truth comes out, it's going to be fine." - Former Michigan basketball coach Steve Fisher |
| Goss explains |
| "We don't make changes in coaches very often at Michigan. It's not my plan to make changes in coaches very often." - Athletic Director Tom Goss |
| Players react |
| "I feel bad for everybody that is involved ... we feel sold out by it all. " - Michigan guard Travis Conlan |
| "It will be hard for us to induct a new guy in and respect him the way a head coach is supposed to be respected." - Michigan center and co-captain Robert Traylor |
| Fisher's story |
|---|
| Yesterday, Fisher mapped out the days before he was fired. |
| Wednesday 5 p.m. Fisher calls his secretary, who says nothing's unusual. |
| 5 - 10 p.m. Fisher goes out to dinner. |
| 10 p.m. Fisher returns to find 7-8 messages on his answering machine. |
| 10:30 p.m. Goss calls Fisher to discuss release of the report. |
| 10:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. Fisher calls Walter Harrison to get Bollinger's number. |
| 12 a.m. Fisher calls Bollinger to ask why he won't see the report before it's released to the public. |
| Thursday Report is flown by plane to Fisher in Florida. |
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