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WATCH: MSU assistant Dane Fife was ridiculously calm during Kenny Goins’ game-winning shot

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Kenny Goins’ game-winning three-pointer to lift Michigan State over Duke and punch its ticket to the Final Four may go down as one of the biggest shots in program history. That didn’t faze assistant coach Dane Fife, though.

As the ball left Goins’ hand, players and coaches on the Spartans’ bench all stood up, hoping the shot would fall. When the ball trickled through the bottom of the net, everyone erupted. Well, almost everyone.

Fife was still sitting on the bench, extremely relaxed and sitting in a lounging manner. It was pretty remarkable how calm the MSU assistant was considering the situation. Below is a video captured by The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn, capturing Fife’s reaction:

As a player at Indiana, a head coach at IPFW and an assistant at Michigan State, Fife has seen some pretty big moments. This might’ve been the biggest. So why the relaxed state? The assistant says a “really bad back” was the reason behind the cool demeanor.

That’s understandable. Still, it’s hard to believe there was such little emotion coming from him. Surely he was exuberant on the inside.

This year marks the second time Fife has been to the Final Four as a member of Michigan State’s staff, with the last visit coming in 2015. He was also a starter on Indiana’s national runner-up team in 2002.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB