Gary Fifield was hired as a temporary assistant coach with the women's basketball program on Sept. 7, 2018.
Fifield has been connected to the state of Maine basketball circuit for many years, serving 27 seasons as the head coach of the University of Southern Maine women's basketball team. While at USM, Fifield guided his teams to a 660-137 record, earning 20 shared or outright Little East Conference regular season titles and 18 LEC tournament championships along the way. Fifield's teams competed in postseason play in all 27 seasons in which he was at the helm.
Out of his 27 years at USM, Fifield guided his teams to 23 NCAA National Tournament bids, advancing to the Sweet 16 fifteen times and to the Elite 8 nine times while making Final Four appearances in 1988, 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2006. Three of his Final Four teams (1998, 2000, 2006) went on to earn a spot in the National Championship Game.
Individually, Fifield was named the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2005. Fifield has earned numerous Hall of Fame honors. In 2003, Fifield was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame before being named to the Little East Conference Hall of Fame in 2012. Fifield, a 14 time Little Each Conference Coach of the Year recipient, rounded out his Hall of Fame selections with inductions to the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Fifield's service and dedication to basketball in the state of Maine is second to none. For his efforts, he was honored with the 2007 Contributor of the Year Award by the Maine Basketball Coaches Association for outstanding service to the game of basketball in the Pine Tree State. In 2006, Fifield was honored by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame with the Presidents' Award given for outstanding achievement and leadership in sports in the State of Maine.
Fifield compiled a stunning 83-percent winning percentage during his time at USM. Over his stints at USM, Fifield mentored two National Player of the Year honorees, had five players named WBCA/Kodak All-Americans and guided 14 different players to WBCA/Kodak Regional All-American status.
One of the most distinguished individual honors of his coaching career came in 1993 when he was the lone Division III women's coach selected to serve on the staff for the West team at the Olympic Festival in San Antonio.
Following his 27 years at USM, which came in two stints (1987-2008; 2009-15), Fifield joined the Appalachian State staff as an assistant to the head women's basketball coach. After a year at Appalachian State, Fifield returned to Maine where he guided the Cheverus high school varsity girls' team during the 2017-18 campaign.
Fifield began his coaching career at Canaan Memorial high school in Canaan, Vt. where he guided the varsity boys' team from 1974-77. He moved on to South Royalton high school (Vermont) as the varsity boys' coach from 1977-82, and again in 1986-87, compiling a 74-34 mark. In between his time at South Royalton, Fifield served as an assistant men's coach at Dartmouth College and the men's head coach at Vermont Technical College for three seasons.
A 1974 graduated of the University of Vermont with a B.S. in physical education, Fifield also earned his master's in educational administration in 1982 from Vermont.
