Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne head coach Dane Fife had his work cut out for him on Saturday. In his first year at the helm for the Mastodons, Fife has dealt with being “out-traditioned” by many established Big Ten programs. And things were no different in this weekend’s 73-49 loss to the Wildcats.

Fife’s team presented a larger challenge the first time he faced Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. Of course, for that game Fife was on the court wearing a Crimson and Cream Indiana jersey, not on the bench in a single-breasted gray suit.

“I remember playing against them when I was a senior in college,” Fife said. “It was Carmody’s (second) year. They were good then and they continue to get better.”

Carmody said he remembered Fife as well.

“I tried to recruit that guy,” said Carmody, who coached at Princeton when Fife was in high school. “They say teams take over the personality of their coach, and they played so hard and they shot the hell out of the ball and they were very dogged, and that’s the way that guy played.”

Fife was a defensive stalwart for the Hoosiers that year, as they made a run to the national championship game where they fell to Maryland.

Fife, the 2002 Big Ten defensive player of the year, jumped from the court to the bench last March and became, at 25, the youngest head coach in Division I.

“I don’t really pay attention to that,” Fife said. “I’ve worked for this for a long time. Certainly by no means have I worked for this as long as other assistant coaches have, but I feel like it was the right place at the right time for me and I certainly enjoy what I’m doing.”

After a brief stint with the Gary Steelheads of the CBA, Fife worked for two years as an assistant under Mike Davis at his alma mater. Fife’s basketball education goes beyond his years playing and coaching under Davis and the legendary Bobby Knight.

With a father who has been a high school coach in Michigan all of his son’s life, basketball is in Fife’s blood.

“I’d say 85 percent of what I know about basketball comes from my dad,” Fife said. “We talk basketball on a daily basis.”

Fife acknowledged that his reputation as a player likely was a factor in his becoming a head coach so early in basketball-crazy Indiana. But at the same time he was unapologetic and confident that he has worked for the job and will succeed.

According to Carmody, he may have a right to be.

“He’s gonna get it going,” Carmody said. “They’ve got a lot of players in that state and he’s a recognizable guy, and like I said, his team has always played hard this whole year.”

Fife faces a tough task as he tries to build a program at IPFW, which only moved up from Division II in 2000.

If the program is anything like its coach, it won’t take long for IPFW to find success.

“We’re in no position to recruit elite players,” Fife said. “But we certainly are making the effort and we’re in on some good players that can really take our program to the next level.”

Reach David Kalan at [email protected].