San Diego State basketball coach Steve Fisher will be given the 2015 John R. Wooden Award’s Legends of Coaching honor, it was announced Wednesday.
Fisher, who helped the University of Michigan win a national championship and turned SDSU into an NCAA power, joins a list of honorees that includes coaching luminaries such as Lute Olson of Arizona, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Dean Smith of North Carolina.
Nan Wooden, the daughter of the late UCLA coach John Wooden, made the announcement at the annual Los Angeles Athletic Club Wooden Award Tipoff Luncheon. Basketball practice at colleges starts in about a week.
The Legends of Coaching award was created in 1999 by a committee that sponsors the Wooden Award, which goes to the nation’s top men’s and women’s college basketball players. Fisher is the first coach of a Southern California school to win the award. He was representing the Aztecs at the luncheon when the announcement was made.
Honorees are selected based on character, success on the court, graduation rates of student-athletes, coaching philosophy and identification with the goals of the John R. Wooden Award.
Fisher has guided SDSU to 10 postseason appearances in 15 seasons. He’ll receive the award in April.
— City News Service