On March 24, 2005, IPFW named Dane Fife as its new head men's basketball coach.

Fife was well known throughout the state of Indiana, but was an unknown quantity within the coaching ranks. But, the same energy, intensity, and work ethic that endeared him to the fans of the Indiana Hoosiers has been a catalyst for his success with the Mastodons.

Currently entering his fifth year as the `Dons head man, Fife has led the Mastodons to double-digit wins in each of his first four seasons.

The 2008-09 season saw Fife's Mastodons qualify for The Summit League Conference Tournament for the second straight year since joining the league. IPFW equaled its school mark of 13 wins as a Division I institution. Mastodon forward Deilvez Yearby was named the conference's Sixth Man of the Year. Fife's squad topped two-time defending Summit League Champion Oral Roberts, 76-65 on February 7, 2009. Fife also led IPFW to another signature win during the season as the Mastodons handed Head Coach Homer Drew's Valparaiso Crusaders their worst home defeat in 11 years with a 63-46 win at the Athletics-Recreation Center on December 11, 2008.

Fife's former players continue to play basketball after their graduation from IPFW. Former fowards DeWitt Scott and Jaraun Burrows played professionally in 2008-09. Scott was a member of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Developemental League. Burrows played in Sweden for the Södertälje Kings. Burrows, Scott, and former guard Demetrius Johnson have all been invited to the 2009-10 NBDL Fort Wayne Mad Ants training camp.

In 2007-08 Fife guided the Mastodons to a Division-I school record 13 wins. In their first season of play in The Summit League, Fife's squad finished the conference campaign at an even .500 (9-9) and captured the school's first-ever conference tournament bid, and win, with a 66-62 win over Southern Utah in the Summit League Quarterfinals. IPFW would lead most of the way against eventual conference champion Oral Roberts, before falling to the top-seeded Golden Eagles in the Semifinals, 58-42.

Under Fife's guidance, IPFW also recieved its first All-Summit League post season nod as senior forward Jaraun Burrows was named to the Summit League's All-Conference second team. Burrows was also named to the 2007-08 Summit League All-Tournament Team. He and former Mastodon center Tyler Best are two of Fife's players that have both played professionally abroad.

As a player, Fife was the defensive catalyst behind Indiana's 2001-02 Big Ten co-champion and Final Four team. He broke the Hoosiers' career steals record (180) en route to league Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior.

Fife also ranks among the Hoosiers' all-time top 20 in assists (307) and three-pointers (99), and his .478 three-point field goal percentage in 2001-02 is sixth on IU's single-season list. Fife also holds Indiana's single-season record for games started (37) and is tied for sixth in career games played (131).

Fife was the Gary Steelheads' first-round pick in the 2002 CBA Draft and started five of the 34 games in which he played. He averaged 3.4 points and one rebound per game.

Off the court, Coach Fife is a proud supporter of Camouflage Kids, an Indiana based non-profit organization that purchases college athletic event tickets for the families and children of our military.

At 30, he is the youngest current NCAA Division-I men's basketball head coach, and in just his fourth season has moved into third place all-time in men's basketball coaching wins at IPFW.