Dane Fife's popularity amongst the fanbase is apparent from the threads below. I feel for Dane whose mother is dying of stage 4 cancer and he left a secure 10 year job to go to his alma mater and moved his family to Bloomington and now has to find a new job and move his family again in disgrace. I think the way it was handled was rotten and lacked a lot of integrity. For all of us under 45, we dont remember Mike Woodson but we will never forget Dane Fife and his run to the National championship. I thought the press release was really poorly worded and insulting for such a stand up person as Dane and he deserved better than that. A good severance package making it worth his while to have uprooted his family to a new place and then a year later have to leave and speaking good words about what he did well and just saying it was not a personality fit would more than suffice. It wasnt that they fired him. It was how they did it that does not sit well with me. When his firing was followed up by having RabJohns write a blog slamming him after he was fired, I think that is about as low as you can go. If Woodson says jump, Rabjohns will say how high and he is owned by Woodson and IU. If he does not do what they say, they will cut his access and he wont have any "inside" scoops to blog about. So, a phone call from the athletic department to Rabjohns, and bam Fife is now the bad guy and leaves with a tarnished reputation when he spent 10 successful years at Michigan State with a stellar program and reputation only to take a lateral position to go back to his alma mater, a place he loves, and help bring the program back. When he left Michigan State, he left with honor and with a great reputation and resume with nothing a manager who had nothing but great things to say about him after 10 years. Now, after 1 year, he leaves the College he loves with a stained reputation and it did not have to do down like that.
So, going forward, if Indiana loses, this will never be forgotten. This whole situation really stinks and it is not the decision to let Dane go that stinks but how IU disgraced a loyal alumni in their communication of letting him go that does not sit right with me. The only way Woodson gets past this is to win and win big. Firing a popular Hoosier icon in disgrace after only one season while his mother is on her death bed and then justifying it by calling out his hit wimpy bloggers to write a hit piece on how bad he was for the program, has caused me to lose a lot of respect for Woodson. I was in full support until this happened and now I really question his character. The only thing that gets Woodson past this is winning and winning big because that is all it will take to make a majority of the fanbase forget about this but anything short of a shot for Big Ten title and a sweet 16 or better run and I think this situation will be like pouring lighter fluid on an already fired up fanbase anytime he comes up short.
