Here's What Indiana Assistant Coach Dane Fife Said on the A.J. Guyton Podcast
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Dane Fife and A.J. Guyton were teammates at Indiana for two years, and their friendship runs deep. Fife, who's now back home again at Indiana as part of Mike Woodson's new staff, joined Guyton in the 54-minute podcast on The Field of 68, and the conversation got deep, too.
Fife talked a lot about growing up as a basketball star and his struggles at times at Indiana. He was very open about all that went on and his struggles with confidence.
There's a lot of great stuff in the podcast and it's well worth a listen. Here are the highlights:
— on being a part of Mike Woodson's staff
"I'm really great getting to know our staff. We really started to gel, especially with that trip over to the Bahamas. It's just really neat learning from Coach Woodson. He's such a great teacher, and he's so good at conveying his vision, not just to the staff but to our players as well. And the players have responded, which is really good to see.''"
— on growing up in Clarkston, Mich.
"My dad was a high school coach and I came up in a sports family. My dad would tell you that baseball was probably my best sport, but basketball became my favorite sport. My first taste of Indiana came on a VHS tape in 1985. My dad was a friend of Bill Frieder and Michigan crushed them, but what captivated me was how Brent Musberger and Billy Packer talked about Coach Knight. That was the first time when I wanted to know more about Indiana basketball.''
— what he gets from his mom
"My mom was the peacekeeper, because I was the youngest of three boys. My dad always pushed that if we played it was going to be done the right way. But my mom also preached balance. There was more than just sports, and my mom tried to preach that to us. The peacekeeper part was a major role, but you can't bring home stuff from the gym. It was important to her that we keep things together in different ways.''
— on his brotherly dynamic
"When you look at the psychologoy of it, I was the baby. Duga, the oldest, he beat the heck out of us, and he'll claim that was his role. Jeremy was the middle kid, and he was the runt of the family because Dugan and I were taller. It created a really competitive environment. My parents can wake up every day knowing that all three of us grew up the right way.''
"My brother Dugan was six years older than I was, so when I was in fourth, fifth, sixth grade he was getting recruited, and people were already talking about how the youngest one might be the best. I got a lot of confidence from football, playing football, because I felt good about knowing what I was doing.''
— on playing multiple sports well
"I do believe they work hand in hand, and that's the pro of playing multiple sports. You learn different things that apply. I like guys who've played soccer. In wrestling, you learn to use your legs more. I was the wrestling guy, I could whup anybody. AJ. you wouldn't wrestle me in the locker room, you'd hide in the corner.''
— on being Mr. Basketball in Michigan and being recruited
"Shane Battier was a good friend of mine and I just kind of followed his model in terms of the recruiting process. Michigan was going through some turmoil and Dean Smith was retiring. Tom Izzo was just getting started as a head coach, and there was Duke, too, but my heart was set on Indiana. It was reaffirmed on my visit. Coach Knight picked me up at the airport, and it reaffirmed that this was there I belonged.
"It was close to home, I really felt like I fit in with the Indiana basketball players. And I had a dream of playing here and fitting in with what Indiana basketball represented was the difference for me. This was my dream, and it really just never wavered.''
— on meeting Coach Knight for the first time
"Meeting him for the first time was a joy for myself and my family. But I had met him before. I was in fifth grade and met him at my brother's camp and I asked Coach Knight for his autograph. He never remembered that.
"That stuff the media showed me about Coach Knight, that was the stuff I liked. I liked all the military stuff, and I felt like I was going to battle with the General.''
— on brother Dugan's time with the Fab Five at Michigan
"Those guys were cultural icons and he's got a lot of stories, but he says they're in the vault. It was a good time for him, and missing out on that national championship with the timeout in 1993.
— on his Bloomington favorites back in the day
"Favorite restaurant was probably Steak & Shake. Toughest matchup? That was A.J. Guyton, and I say that will full reverence because I had to guard you in practice every day. But if it was someone not on my team, I'd have to say it was probably Jay Williams at Duke. But their whole starting five was lottery picks.
Favorite game? That was the Kent State game, to get us to the Final Four. That was a really important game for me, and we whipped them. The other part that was funny was that Antonio Gates was on that team, and he knocked me out in high school, so that was sweet revenge, too. Then he went on to become one of the greatest tight ends in history.
— on the Purdue rivalry
"Great rival. That's it. They compete, they do it the right way. If you want somebody to be your rival, that's them. They're a great rival. Their players are respectful, as are our.
— the one IU basketball player that first comes to mind
"That would be Quinn Buckner. He was always really helpful. I got to know his sons really well during my time them. He's always been in contact with the school, with me, he's always been helpful.
— on his playing days at Indiana
''I was really well coached when I was younger and I knew how to work hard. But when I got here, there were other players who were more adept at the system than I was. There was a tug-of-war, Do I pass more or do my thing? We had different guys with different mind sets at the time and there was a lack of confidence.''
"I was able to provide value. They brought me along, and gave me confidence. I thought Coach Knight handled it really well. He was able to acknowledge and recognize that there have been many players that went through that tug of war. I appreciated that he stuck with me.''
"I was a ticking time bomb. I had some spurts in high school where I went in the tank sometimes, but I'd have a bounce-back game. It's hard in practice to get going, because everybody knows what everybody else was doing. In a game, it was so much easier visually, but I just couldn't get it to click. I lost that connection between brain and body, and that happens quick, and it turns into anxiety. It's fight or flight. People go through it.''
— on Coach Knight's motivation
"All that stuff gets sorted out from childhood. I was destined to have a potential crash. It didn't mean I couldn't come out of it. It doesn't mean anything bad happened to me, because I felt all those things when I was younger. As the pressure got bigger, it was inevitable that there was going to be a rock bottom to my game. It's a mindset.
"Coach (Mike) Davis helped me with that, and Coach Knight would have helped me with it too. Coach Knight had nothing to do with my ''choke,'' the disappearance of my offensive prowess. He was a brilliant coach and a brilliant technician. He was brilliant, and that's why his teams scored a lot.''
— on not quitting during struggles
"I loved Indiana, loved the fans, loved my friends and I loved playing for Coach Knight. My struggled didn't have anything to do with Coach Knight and it had everything to do with me. I remember at a practice after we lost to Purdue, I was running my mouth in practice, and I remember writing a note to Coach Knight, that I tend to speak my mind. That was what was important to me, and what I wanted out of it.''
— on what he did was Coach Knight was fired
"Right out of the gate, one of the things I had in mind was that I didn't want to play for another staff. It was assumed when Coach got fired that everyone was fired. He said, 'I want you to consider staying, for the school, for the team.' He understood that. Ultimately, it was a pretty easy decision that I was going to stay as long as they maintain the staff.
