The hardwood inside Viejas Arena is now officially known as “Steve Fisher Court.”

It says so, in big white letters across a stripe of black sideline paint between the team benches.

San Diego State unveiled the long-anticipated naming at a media event Thursday afternoon with Fisher, athletic director Jim Sterk and university president Elliot Hirshman.

× San Diego State announces the basketball court in Viejas Arena has been named Steve Fisher Court.


“His record speaks for itself,” Hirshman said. “He has transformed our basketball program.”

It was Sterk’s idea, beginning several years ago and coming to fruition this summer after getting approval from Hirshman and the university senate.

“When you have someone like Coach Fisher on your staff,” Sterk said, “your mind starts thinking about the proper way to recognize that.”

Sterk and his staff briefly considered honoring him at the new practice facility that opened in August but decided Viejas Arena was more visible and more appropriate. They ran it past Fisher over the summer.


1 / 6 Coach Fisher, left, is applauded by SDSU president Eliot Hirshman, right, as he sits next to athletic director Jim Sterk during the ceremony. (John Gastaldo) 2 / 6 An aerial view of Viejas Arena now includes Steve Fisher Court. (John Gastaldo) 3 / 6 Coach Steve Fisher, who has been San Diego State’s Basketball coach for 17 years, had the Viejas Arena court named in his honor Thursday in a midday ceremony officiated by SDSU President Dr. Elliot Hirshman and athletics director Jim Sterk. (John Gastaldo) 4 / 6 Coach Steve Fisher, standing on his name, now the name of the court at Viejas Arena. (John Gastaldo) 5 / 6 Coach Steve Fisher emphasized team and teamwork in his address to the media on the day the Viejas Arena court was named for him. (John Gastaldo) 6 / 6 Coach Steve Fisher, who has been at the helm of SDSU basketball for 17 seasons was honored with his namesake court at Viejas Arena. (John Gastaldo)

“I expressed to him my deep appreciation,” said Fisher, entering his 17th season at SDSU in what has been one of the great turnaround jobs in college basketball history. “I don’t take these kinds of things lightly. I am very honored that they would say we want to do this, not somebody lobbying. I have a great feeling of pride and appreciation for myself and my family, and our staff and all the players we’ve had since 1999 that have allowed us to still be here. It’s been a wonderful experience and this is a terrific honor.

“My name is on the court, but I think it is a recognition of every player, coach, manager, trainer, anyone who has had an impact in any way on our program. They should all feel a piece of this.”

SDSU joins about two dozen other Division I programs that have named their basketball court after a legendary coach, including John Wooden at UCLA, Pete Newell at Cal, Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and Lute Olson at Arizona. What’s unique, though, is many of them were bestowed posthumously or post-retirement.


In conjunction with Thursday’s event, SDSU launched a fundraising campaign for the “Steve Fisher Basketball Endowment” targeted at $1 million. An anonymous donor pledged to match $500,000 in contributions, and the 4 percent generated annually by the fund – roughly $40,000 – can be used at the discretion of the men’s basketball program.

Fisher will get to coach on the court that bears his name, beginning with the exhibition opener Monday night against Cal State San Marcos and the regular-season opener Nov. 13 against Illinois State, his alma mater.

“It will be neat to be able to do that,” Fisher said. “Maybe they thought I would never retire, that’s why they’re doing it.”

The school consulted Fisher on where and how his name would appear on the hardwood. They choose the area in front of the scorer’s table, which is in view of television cameras that have sideline positions opposite the benches – white lettering against a black background.


“They’ve done a nice job. It’s not sticking out but it’s there,” Fisher said. “I wanted to make sure that it was done tastefully, and I think they’ve done that. But what it signifies is what’s most important for us, the pride we have.”