Frieder Won’t Get to Coach Wolverines at Tournament

Michigan basketball coach Bill Frieder became Arizona State’s new coach today, and Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler said Frieder wasn’t welcome to coach the Wolverines through the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t want someone from Arizona State coaching the Michigan team,” Schembechler said at a news conference in Ann Arbor, Mich. “A Michigan man is going to coach Michigan.”

Frieder will be replaced by Michigan assistant coach Steve Fisher, Schembechler said. The athletic director said he would likely begin interviews for a new coach after the tournament.

Tenth-ranked Michigan, 24-7, is to face Xavier, 21-11, in a first-round NCAA game Friday at the Southeast regional in Atlanta.

At a news conference in Tempe, Frieder said he wasn’t trailing in the wake of Purdue’s Gene Keady, who already turned down the Arizona State job.

Frieder said he was offered the job three years ago by Sun Devils athletic director Charles Harris, but turned Harris down at the time because he felt committed to Michigan athletic director Don Canham, since retired.

Frieder said he had tried to drag out the present selection process because it was coming to a head just two days before his Wolverines’ scheduled first-round game in the NCAA tournament.

In Michigan, Wolverine senior center J. P. Oosterbaan said Frieder woke him with a phone call at 3 a.m. today and told him he took the Arizona State job but would coach the Wolverines through the NCAA playoffs.

‘Something He Had to Do’

“He said he loved us all, but this was something he had to do if he wanted to stay in coaching,” Oosterbaan said.

Frieder said Harris had called to offer him the job and said he needed an answer in 20 minutes. Frieder said when he called back, Harris said he had a flight to Phoenix already arranged.

Frieder, who took over from Johnny Orr in 1980 after seven years as Orr’s assistant, has led the Wolverines to 20 or more victories and an NCAA tournament berth in each of the last five seasons. The year before that, Michigan won the National Invitation Tournament. Frieder has compiled a 191-87 record at Michigan.

The Wolverines finished third in the Big Ten Conference this season at 12-6.