Former Michigan coach Bill Frieder's team won the NIT title in 1984, followed by back-to-back Big Ten championships in 1985 and 1986.
While he still ranks second in wins (189) with the Wolverines, he'll always be remembered for his unceremonious firing at the hands of Bo Schembechler after revealing just before the NCAA Tournament that he planned to leave Michigan for Arizona State at the end of the 1989 season.
Schembechler didn't allow Frieder to coach the team in the tournament and told the assembled media he wanted a "Michigan man" to lead the Wolverines. He tabbed assistant Steve Fisher, who led them to the national championship.
"I came out of practice that Tuesday and there were media there starting to ask me questions," Frieder said Thursday. "I didn't want to lie to my team, I didn't want to lie to the media and I didn't want to lie to the community, so I thought at the time that I'm just going to be honest (and say), 'When the season's over, I'm going to Arizona State.'
"That was a bad mistake and I shouldn't have done that. I was honest."
After his nine seasons in Ann Arbor, Frieder spent eight at Arizona State, leading the Sun Devils to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, before leaving Tempe in 1997.
"The bottom line was I put myself in that position," he said. "What I should have done is just not announced that I was going. I said at the time that if that's the worst thing that happens to me, I'll have a great life. I've had a great life and I've got no complaints."
Frieder, 70, serves as the lead radio analyst for Westwood One and will broadcast Michigan's game at Indiana on Feb. 2.
Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130112/SPORTS0201/301120335/1131/rss17
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