San Diego State rewards Fisher with new deal

Aug 30, 2011 - 12:34 AM San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - San Diego State has given men's basketball coach Steve Fisher a new four-year contract.

The school also designated longtime assistant Brian Dutcher as Fisher's successor. Dutcher has been a part of Fisher's staff for 21 years, including time at Michigan.

Fisher, 66, will begin his 13th season at San Diego State this fall and has taken a program that was 5-23 in his first year to a perennial power in the Mountain West Conference that last year finally made some noise in the NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs were 34-3 last season and reached the Sweet 16, where they were beaten by eventual national champion Connecticut.

The Aztecs have won at least 20 games in each of the last six seasons and are 232-142 with four NCAA Tournament appearances since Fisher took over for the 1999-2000 campaign.

Fisher began his head coaching career with astounding success, taking over a Michigan program when Bill Frieder was fired just before the start of the 1989 NCAA Tournament. He proceeded to guide the Wolverines to the national championship and spent the next eight seasons in Ann Arbor.