NCAA Southeast Regional at Atlanta : Michigan Gives New Coach a Win

As a Michigan man coached Michigan Friday in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament, a former Michigan man fidgeted in the stands.

Finally, Bill Frieder left.

“It was very emotional,” Frieder said later by phone from his hotel room, where he watched the end of the game on television as Michigan, coached by Steve Fisher, overcame a six-point deficit in the last 10 minutes to beat Xavier of Ohio, 92-87, in the first round of the Southeast Regional at Atlanta.

Until three days ago, Frieder was the coach of the 10th-ranked Wolverines, and Fisher was his No. 1 assistant.

But when Frieder accepted an offer Wednesday to coach at Arizona State, Michigan Athletic Director Bo Schembechler decreed that Frieder would not coach the Wolverines in the NCAA tournament, as Frieder had planned.

“I don’t want someone from Arizona State coaching the Michigan team,” Schembechler said. “A Michigan man is going to coach Michigan.”

And so Frieder, who broke down Wednesday night in a tearful farewell to his players, watched Friday’s game from afar.

He sat about 10 rows behind the Michigan bench (and not far from Schembechler) with his wife, Janice, and their daughter, Laura, before he was besieged by reporters and autograph-seekers.

Frieder wandered around the Omni for a while after that, he said, before heading back to his hotel room, leaving Janice and Laura behind.

A great weight was lifted from his shoulders, Frieder said, when the third-seeded Wolverines (25-7) rallied to beat the scrappy Musketeers. Michigan will meet South Alabama (23-8) Sunday in a second-round game.

“It would have been a tough, tough situation for me to handle had they not won,” Frieder said. “Now that they’ve won, I feel great about the whole situation because they’re over the hump on what my situation did to them.

“It’s got to give them great confidence in Steve Fisher, who had to come from behind to win. So, I’m really excited about it all.”

How had the situation affected the Wolverines?

Not much, apparently.

They overpowered the overmatched Musketeers down the stretch after Xavier (21-12) had built a 71-65 lead with 9:45 left.

“The game was there for us to steal,” Xavier Coach Pete Gillen said, “but it slipped through our hands.”

Michigan, which got 23 points from Glen Rice and 23 points and eight assists from Rumeal Robinson, ultimately wore down the Musketeers.

“It was like water torture,” Gillen said. “Who would crack first? Unfortunately, we finally cracked a little bit and they just grabbed it.”