Present-Day Machiavellians?

In 1991, five freshmen stepped onto the University of Michigan and throughout their two years together, transcended basketball culture on and off the court. You could probably guess who they were right?

Steve Fisher and the Fab Five used to be all smiles

Well of course it’s the Fab Five! The team made up of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. Who doesn’t know about them?

Now ask a person who was the guy at the sidelines barking instructions at those five players and the answer may be harder to come by. Steve Fisher, despite his notoriety as the head coach of the infamous Fab Five as well as successful tenure pre-Fab Five, is not a name thrown around loosely in Ann Arbor. Someone with his track record should be glorified just as much as Michigan legends such as Bo Schembechler, Lloyd Carr, and even current basketball coach, John Beilein. So why is it that the Fab Five is so famous (or infamous), but their own leader is little known outside the realm of basketball fans? 

The reason could be a case in point of a Machiavelli concept gone wrong. Placed under scrutiny because of the timing of the promotion of Steve Fisher to head coach before the 1989 NCAA tournament, Fisher faced a great amount of skepticism in the beginning of his eventual eight year run as head coach of the Wolverines. He would fend off steam by winning the 1989 national championship that year followed by two subsequent trips to the Final Four during the Fab Five era, but questions arose again when the Ed Martin scandal came up.

Where are the banners for the 90’s Michigan teams?

In 1997, it was revealed that Michigan player, Maurice Taylor, had illegally visited retired electrician Ed Martin and after some more digging, the court discovered that Fab Five member Chris Webber, as well as three more Michigan basketball players had accepted money (as well as other gifts) from Martin dating back to their high school days. This would wind up tarnishing Michigan basketballs’ reputation as their achievements and records were wiped out and the team faced probation until 2006.

Beilein has since turned Michigan back into an elite program that has enjoyed a run of success the past four years including back-to-back Elite 8 appearances and a win away from their first national championship since Fisher’s 1989 team. Much more highly acclaimed high school recruits are committing to the program and a handful of their players are leaving for the NBA early, with success. In the midst of a poor football season this year, more and more Michigan students are exclaiming how they “can’t wait for basketball season to start”. The days of turmoil are pretty much forgotten and Michigan’s basketball image is restored. The Fab Five, and each of its players, are now even celebrated and appreciated as changing the culture of basketball as well as society. It seems like of all the culprits who faced punishment twelve years ago, the only one who has not received forgiveness is the leader, Steve Fisher.

Trey Burke sending Michigan to its first Final Four since the Fab Five era with Coach John Beilein looking on

This is where I believe the Machiavellian concept has gone wrong. Throughout most of Fisher’s tenure, he knew he was breaking the rules by giving Ed Martin access to his players, leading to inevitable trouble. Despite that, he perhaps thought the ends would justify the means because he was keeping his players happy and in return his players were producing success on the court. Up until 1997, Fisher gave the public the impression he was a very inspiring and model coach who was putting in results that reached the standards of Michigan athletics. When the scandal and investigations followed however, Fisher was fired from his position, had all his achievements taken away, and left for California all but a hated man in the eyes of the Michigan faithful.

Despite my opinion of Machiavelli’s concept being very effective (if successful), it just isn’t possible to pull off in this generation. With a very strong and strict bureaucratic system, advanced technology, and the power of freedom of speech, it is extremely difficult to get away from breaking the rules, even if your goals are achieved. People, in all professions, value fair play and rules too much that even several years after a leader’s goal is achieved, the public is willing to dig, as soon as suspicions arise, in an attempt to downplay the achievements and tarnish the reputations of others. It happened to Steve Fisher, and it can easily happen to any one else who tries to gain an advantage in their field via the Machiavellian way.