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Tom Izzo

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Tom Izzo

Tom Izzo (born January 30, 1955 in Iron Mountain, Michigan) is the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team. Under Coach Izzo, the Michigan State program has been one of the most successful in the country, winning the national championship in 2000 and had ten players selected in the NBA draft, third most in the NCAA since 2000. ESPN's Andy Katz acknowledged that the Michigan State program under Tom Izzo has arguably been college basketball's top program over the past 10 years[1]. The Spartans have reached the Final Four in four of the past nine seasons, more than any other team during that time. Izzo has won four national coach of the year awards. His 233 wins in his first ten years as head coach rank seventh in the history of college basketball. His streak of three straight Final Four appearances from 1999–2001 is the third-longest of all time.

Head coach at Michigan State

Hired as head coach at Michigan State in 1995, Izzo is currently the longest-tenured basketball coach in the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State began a streak of eleven straight NCAA tournament appearances, which is the 5th longest current streak among Division I teams. During that run only Mike Krzyzewski (29) has more NCAA tournament wins than Tom Izzo (26). Izzo also joins Coach K and Ben Howland as the only three coaches that have made three consecutive Final Fours since the NCAA tournament bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Tom Izzo has coached his teams to four regular-season Big Ten championships, two Big Ten Tournament titles, four NCAA Final Four appearances, and one NCAA national championship. Since he became head coach, every player that he has recruited and who completed their full eligibility has gone to the Final Four. 82 percent of his players who completed their eligibility left MSU with a degree.

Coaching philosophy

Izzo's teams are known for guard play, toughness and rebounding. Izzo got attention when people learned of his "war" rebounding drills, in which the players have sometimes worn football helmets and shoulder pads. [2] His motto is "Players Play – Tough Players Win"[3]

Player development

Eight McDonald's All-Americans have played for Tom Izzo at MSU (Mateen Cleaves - 1996, Jason Richardson - 1999, Zach Randolph - 2000, Marcus Taylor - 2000, Kelvin Torbert - 2001, Paul Davis - 2002 and Shannon Brown and Brandon Cotton - 2003). Six Spartans (Charlie Bell, Mateen Cleaves, Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel, Morris Peterson and Jason Richardson) have earned some form of All-America honors, while Chris Hill was a three-time Academic All-American and was named the 2005 "ESPN The Magazine" Academic All-American of the Year and 2005 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year by "Black Issues In Higher Education Magazine." Eighteen different players have earned all-Big Ten conference recognition.

Since 2000, ten have been selected in the NBA draft, third most in the NCAA. Six of those went in the first round. Some of the notable alumni are (current team): Morris Peterson (New Orleans Hornets), Charlie Bell (Milwaukee Bucks), Mateen Cleaves (formerly of the Seattle SuperSonics now playing in Greece), Zach Randolph (Los Angeles Clippers), Jason Richardson (Phoenix Suns), Alan Anderson (formerly of the Charlotte Bobcats, now playing in Italy), Shannon Brown (Chicago Bulls), Maurice Ager (New Jersey Nets), Paul Davis (Los Angeles Clippers).

Coaching tree

Several of Izzo's former assistants are currently head coaches at other schools:

In addition, Mike Garland used to be head coach at Cleveland State, and Stan Joplin was formerly the head coach of University of Toledo.

Playing career

Raised in Iron Mountain, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Izzo attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette from 1973-77, where he played guard for the men's basketball team. In his senior season, he set a school record for minutes played and was named a Division II All-American.

Early coaching career

After graduating from Northern Michigan, Izzo was head coach at Ishpeming High School for one season. He then took an assistant coaching job at Northern Michigan University from 1979–83. Izzo was then named a part-time assistant at Michigan State in September 1983. After a short two month stay as a assistant coach at University of Tulsa, Izzo returned to Michigan State when assistant Mike Deane left to become head coach at Siena College. Prior to the 1990–91, then-current coach Jud Heathcote elevated Izzo to associate head coach. After Heathcote's retirement following the 1994-95 season and upon both his and the Michigan State Athletic Director's recommendation, Izzo was named the new head coach of men's basketball for MSU.

USA basketball

Izzo was head coach of the USA Basketball men's team at the 2003 Pan American Games. Prior to that he was assistant coach of the team that had a 5–0 record and won the gold medal at the 2001 Goodwill Games. Izzo currently serves on the Collegiate Committee of USA Basketball's 2005-2008 Quadrennium Committees[4].

Other coaching opportunities

Izzo has had opportunities to become a coach in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks offered him a head coaching job in 2000, following MSU's national championship. [5] He was contacted by the Toronto Raptors in 2004, but stated "I have a commitment to this program and that is to try to win another national championship." [6]

Tom Izzo was rumored to be a top candidate to replace Tubby Smith as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats after Smith accepted the head coaching job at the Minnesota Golden Gophers on March 22, 2007. Izzo was contacted by Kentucky administration, but declined to have formalized talks. Since then, Kentucky has hired Billy Gillispie away from Texas A&M. As of November 14, Tom Izzo has been rumored to be a top candidate to replace Lute Olson at the University of Arizona. [7]

Operation Hardwood

In 2005 and 2006, Izzo participated in Operation Hardwood, in which college coaches went to Kuwait military camps to coach basketball teams of American service members. Among the other coaches were Tubby Smith, Gary Williams, and Rick Barnes. In 2005, Izzo's team won the tournament championship.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Michigan State (Big Ten Conference) (1995–Current)
1995–1996 Michigan State 16-16 9-9 7th NIT 2nd Round
1996–1997 Michigan State 17-12 9-9 T-6th NIT 2nd Round
1997–1998 Michigan State 22-8 13-3 T-1st NCAA Sweet 16
1998–1999 Michigan State 31-5 15-1 1st NCAA Final Four
1999–2000 Michigan State 30-7 13-3 T-1st NCAA Champions
2000–2001 Michigan State 27-5 13-3 T-1st NCAA Final Four
2001–2002 Michigan State 18-12 10-6 5th NCAA 1st Round
2002–2003 Michigan State 21-13 10-6 T-3rd NCAA Elite Eight
2003–2004 Michigan State 17-12 12-4 T-2nd NCAA 1st Round
2004–2005 Michigan State 25-7 13-3 2nd NCAA Final Four
2005–2006 Michigan State 21-12 8-8 T-6th NCAA 1st Round
2006–2007 Michigan State 22-12 8-8 T-7th NCAA 2nd Round
2007-2008 Michigan State 27-9 12-6 4th NCAA Sweet 16
2008-2009 Michigan State 11-2 2-0 NA NA
Michigan State: 315-132 147-69
Total: 315-132

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Quotations

  • “We’ll play anybody, anyplace, anytime. It doesn’t matter, morning, noon or night, and it doesn’t matter who it is.”[8]
  • "Players Play – Tough Players Win."[9]
  • "I'm so sick of people saying, 'He's a defensive coach, he's a rebounding coach.' I want to be a great defensive coach, a great rebounding coach, a great running-game coach, a great offensive-execution coach, a great special-teams-sidelines-out-of-bounds coach. I want utopia. I want my players to want utopia."[10]

Notes

  • His .722 winning percentage (26-10 record) in the NCAA tournament ranks third among all active coaches with 10 or more games coached [11]
  • Holds Big Ten record 53-game home court winning streak
  • Named his son Steven Thomas Mateen Izzo, in honor of his best friend and former NFL head coach, Steve Mariucci, and also Mateen Cleaves, point guard on the 2000 National Championship Team[12]
  • Inducted to the Northern Michigan University Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Upper Peninsula Hall of Fame in 1997
  • Every MSU Basketball player who has stayed 4 years under Coach Izzo has played in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.
  • Big Ten winning percentage is the highest all-time of coaches with over ten years in the Big Ten and second overall to Bo Ryan[13].

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Izzo.
Preceded by Michigan State Men's Basketball Head Coach
1995– 		Succeeded by
Current
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