Steve Fisher

How Jim Harrick compared to some of his NCAA tournament contemporaries in his eight seasons at UCLA: JIM HARRICK UCLA *--* Year NCAA Finish Record 1989 Second round 21-10 1990 Final 16 22-11 1991 First round 23-9 1992 Final eight 28-5 1993 Second round 22-11 1994 First round 21-7 1995 National champion 31-2 1996 First round 23-8 *--* Eight-year record: 191-63 * STEVE FISHER MICHIGAN *--* Year NCAA Finish Record 1989 National champion 6-0* 1990 Second round 23-8 1991 Did not qualify 14-15

Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, whose work often seems to be overlooked, came in for high praise from Kentucky counterpart Rick Pitino. "He has the patience of a saint," Pitino said. "I know I couldn't have coached five freshmen (last season). They understand the team concept (at Michigan). I think he's a remarkable man and a remarkable coach."

In a sport often dominated by the suits on the sidelines, Michigan basketball Coach Steve Fisher is an anomaly. This week in New Orleans, he will coach his third Final Four team in five years--for some of the game's tacticians, more than enough reason to open a restaurant and write an autobiography. Do not, however, expect Fisher to be deified any time soon. "He'll never get his due with that team," George Washington Coach Mike Jarvis said. That team is, of course, the Fab Five.

The afternoon practice completed, Michigan's players return to their Crisler Arena locker room, where it doesn't take long for someone to pump up the stereo volume to near-painful levels. As the rap music whomps against the concrete walls, rattling several framed photographs, forward Chris Webber, the most acclaimed freshman of the Wolverines' celebrated recruiting class, settles into a lounge chair.

My old friend Steve Fisher suddenly started turning up everyplace but on a yacht in Barbados with Joan Collins and Robin Leach, indulging caviar wishes and champagne dreams. One morning I would flip open a magazine and there he'd be, curled up in Mickey Mouse's lap at Disneyland. Another day there he'd be, pumping President Bush's hand in the Rose Garden, swapping stories. Steve Fisher, America's coach.

About 15 months ago Steve Fisher had a meeting with Michigan Athletic Director Bo Schembechler. Fisher said he loved Michigan, but he was 43 years old and wanted to be a head coach. "Any way I can help you," Schembechler said, "I'll help you." On March 15, with the Wolverines two days from a first-round game in the NCAA tournament and Bill Frieder already having decided he was going to leave Michigan for Arizona State, Schembechler helped Fisher. He made him Michigan's interim coach.

Finally, Steve Fisher is just plain coach. Named as Michigan's interim coach two days before the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament, Fisher took the Wolverines to their first national championship, and was officially rewarded Monday when the "interim" was removed from his title. Fisher, an assistant for seven seasons, took over on March 15 after Bill Frieder accepted the job at Arizona State and was told he could not finish out the season with Michigan.

Steve Fisher, a little-known assistant a month ago who guided Michigan to the NCAA basketball championship, was named today as permanent coach of the Wolverines. Michigan Athletic Director Bo Schembechler said Fisher, 44, would bring a new approach to the program, but not let it slip. "I look at it as a continuation of what this young coach has done in the time since he took over the Michigan team in the NCAA tournament and led it to the national championship," Schembechler said.

Steve Fisher, who in 20 remarkable days guided Michigan to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball championship, will be named coach of the Wolverines at a news conference today, the Associated Press reported. The move will come one week after the 44-year-old Fisher coached the Wolverines to the national title with a 80-79 overtime victory over Seton Hall. Sources close to the team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Sunday that Fisher was the only candidate interviewed by Bo Schembechler, the football coach who also is athletic director.