After his playing days as an All-West Coast Conference guard, David Fizdale returned to his University of San Diego alma mater as a graduate assistant on then-coach Brad Holland’s staff. He quickly made an impression.
“The first day of coaching, Dave walked in, stopped practiced and started telling guys what to do. Brad and I kind of sat back, didn’t say anything and went to the office. I go, ‘Wow, he’s good isn’t he?’ ” said then-assistant Kyle Smith, now University of San Francisco head coach. “We said, ‘Dave is going to be really good at this.’ ”
Holland laughed at the anecdote.