Coach Brian Fish’s daughter passes prior to Saturday’s game

The Bobcat community lost a member of its family this past week. Caryssa Fish, daughter of MSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Brian Fish and his wife Melyssa, passed away on Friday, Feb. 8 in Florida. She was 29 years old.

Despite losing his daughter less than 24 hours before Saturday’s game, Fish made the choice to coach his team the following day. He spoke to his decision, stating, “I did it because for an hour and 45 minutes I got a chance to escape and be around 12 guys that I love to be around. You guys see it, they’re fun to coach, they’re fun to be around, they’re trying to get better. Whether people understand that or not, you have to respect that for my wife and I, this is our team. This is my daughter’s team. This is something we love, this is something we chose to do, and if you don’t understand that, I respect that, but please respect what we chose to do.”

Ahead of Saturday’s matchup a moment of silence was held in Caryssa’s honor in Worthington Arena. With only a few minutes left in the game and MSU holding a sizable lead, veteran players like senior guard Tyler Hall, junior guard Harald Frey and senior center Sam Neumann checked out of the game, each embraced Fish and shared a few words on their way to the bench. After the game when Frey was asked what was said during the embrace, he replied, I told him “We are a family,” and, “This one’s for you, coach.” The Cats went on to defeat the Idaho Vandals by 14 points — one of their largest margins of victory so far this season.

Fish addressed the media after Saturday’s win. He opened up about the last 24 hours, saying, “There was no bigger fan of the Bobcats than my daughter. I told everybody in the locker room, there is someone special in their life, to make sure to call them or text them tonight and tell them thanks, because for the first time in my life, tonight I don’t have a text waiting for me telling me, ‘Great job Dad! You’re my hero.’ My job as a head coach is to help people, challenge people, get them out of their comfort zone, help people reach their goals, help them be successful, and today I didn’t do it. Today, those guys, and I’m talking my coaches, I’m talking the trainers, I’m talking the strength coaches, our team doctor, Bill [Lamberty], those guys lifted me up. And I don’t have words for it.” Fish also indicated that they will be holding a service for his daughter in Omaha.

Players also spoke about the loss after the game on Saturday. Frey told media members, “We look at each other as a family here. Everyone involved we are a family, and when that struck him I think it struck all of us and we really wanted to go out there and get this one for coach. He’s a class act. He’s a strong guy.” Neumann also added to Frey’s statement, saying, “There’s not a lot of people who can come out and coach after something like that, so all the respect to him for doing that.”

The Bobcats are scheduled to travel to Idaho State for another conference matchup, on Thursday, Feb. 14, followed by Weber State on Saturday, Feb. 16. It was announced that Fish will coach both games before travelling to Omaha on Sunday, Feb. 17 for the funeral.