'Now the real work begins'
Michigan ends search, names Ellerbe men's coach
Posted: Fri March 20, 1998 at 6:59 PM ET
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Ellerbe led the Wolverines to a 25-9 record and into the second round of the NCAA tournament
(AP)
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ANN ARBOR, Michigan (CNN/SI) -- Michigan removed the word "interim" from Brian Ellerbe's title Friday, naming him the Wolverines' permanent men's head basketball coach.
Athletic director Tom Goss made the announcement at a Friday afternoon news conference.
"I've very exited," Ellerbe said. "All year I haven't been at a loss for words -- and right now I am, a little bit. Now the real work begins."
Ellerbe guided the Wolverines to a 25-9 record and into the
second round of the NCAA tournament after being thrust into the
head coaching job following Steve Fisher's abrupt firing just days
before practices were scheduled to begin in October.
He was named the Wolverines' full-time coach just as abruptly,
with the announcement coming just days after Goss received
permission from Oklahoma to talk to coach Kelvin Sampson and from
Seton Hall to talk to Tommy Amaker.
The announcement comes less than a year after Ellerbe resigned
as coach at Loyola in Baltimore, citing philosophical differences.
"I feel fortunate to have the opportunity and to know that we
got the job because we worked for it," he said. "The development of our team
and the season puts a lot of emphasis on where we're going. We just need to add to it to make sure that we put Michigan basketball in the place in the country where it's supposed to be
and that's right at the top."
Ellerbe had a 34-47 record over three seasons with Loyola.
Before that, he served as an assistant at Virginia for three
years, at South Carolina for a year, at George Mason for two years
and at Bowling Green for two years.
He joined the Michigan staff as an assistant last summer and
expected to be part of Steve Fisher's staff.
But Fisher was fired by Goss, the new athletic director, because
Goss believed Fisher failed to properly control a booster. An
investigation conducted by the university revealed three secondary
NCAA violations and called into question Fisher's role in arranging
complimentary tickets for the booster.
Goss tried to conduct a nationwide search for a coach,
interviewing 36 candidates by telephone interviewing seven
candidates in person, but few coaches were interested in making a
move just as practices were to begin. So Goss decided to name an
interim coach and named Ellerbe, bypassing Fisher's longtime
assistant, Brian Dutcher.
When Goss made the decision, he made it clear to Ellerbe that
the job was temporary.
"Brian understands this will be an interim
position," he said at the time.
But Ellerbe said at the time that it was his goal to make Goss'
decision difficult. In the end he succeeded, although the
Wolverines got off to a rough start.
Michigan lost the season opener to Western Michigan and had some
other disappointing losses, including falling to Eastern Michigan,
Bradley and Minnesota. They struggled to beat Towson 75-72 and
needed a big comeback to defeat Northwestern.
But the Wolverines had some big wins as well, defeating then-No.
1 Duke in December and beating Michigan State in Ann Arbor. At the
end of the season, Michigan ran off seven straight wins, including
a decisive 76-67 triumph over Purdue to capture the inaugural Big
Ten tournament and a win over Davidson in the first round of the
NCAA tournament.
The Wolverines lost to UCLA on Sunday in the second round of the
tournament.
After the loss, Robert Traylor -- Michigan's 300-pound junior
center -- said he would be more likely to remain for his senior
season if Ellerbe were named the head coach. Traylor said he didn't
want to play for three coaches in four seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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