On this momentous occasion, we look back on our favorite memories of MSU’s basketball coach and face of the university
Happy birthday to one of the greatest to ever do it. On this day in 1955 in Iron Mountain, MI, a future icon was born. Everything Thomas Michael Izzo has done since has been quite noteworthy, and we MSU students, alumni, and fans have had the good fortune to have had front row seats for it starting in 1983 and uninterrupted since 1986.
Now, in the head coaching role he ascended to in 1995, Tom is celebrating his 70th birthday in his 30th season leading Michigan State’s Men’s Basketball Team. In a stroke of good timing, Tom has a chance to tie the all-time Big Ten record for conference wins at 352 (he already has the record in all games) just two days after his birthday in a game at USC . That will be a wonderful belated present. He can then break Bob Knight’s record next week when MSU plays at UCLA, appropriately on a court named after arguably the most famous name in the history of college basketball, John Wooden.
Certainly, there have been some wonderful memories we all have accumulated of Tom along the way. So to mark his 70th birthday, I have asked my fellow TOC writers to share their #1 memory of Coach Izzo. Here’s what we each thought of as our most cherished Izzo memory
Brian:
For me, the Izzo moment that stands out is from the ‘Love Like Lacey [Holsworth]’ event at the Breslin Center back in 2014, just after she passed (wow, it’s already been that long?!) I still remember the feelings of the place and even walking across campus afterwards to go grab a bite along Grand River, with people just beaming and warm, milling their ways back to their cars. I received a random “I love you” from a beautiful young woman walking with her family. I could barely eek out a, “you too”, mostly to myself as I shuffled and pondered somewhere across from the Union.
The memory of Coach Izzo from that event – there were tables of Lacey’s favorite things, along with photos, up near the stage. A line of people waited to walk past, then head up the main aisle to return back to their seats. I don’t remember at what row, but at some point walking back up the aisle Coach had just stopped and sat down, head in hands, in an empty seat at the end of one of the rows. It took me a second to register, as everyone filed inches past him – I was already a couple of aisles further along, what he must be experiencing. It wasn’t for show. He wasn’t trying to sit next to anyone in that row, or pose for a picture, or even just get out of the way of the (very polite and somber) crowd. He was just overcome. He’d been so affected by this amazing little girl, he just needed to sit and not look up. Not be the icon we all know and love. He just became a dad in mourning and I think he needed that night and that community as much as, or more than, everyone else who was there. That love.
Steve:
My favorite Izzo moment is the 2000 title. I was a student at that time and was able to experience all the splendor. I remember being in the living room of my fraternity house watching the game with nerves and anticipation the entire time. Campus was at a heated level of tension coming off riots the previous year that was supposedly started because of a basketball tourney loss. The police were ready for absolute anarchy from the student body and you could feel something was in the air. Cleaves goes down in a close game and heads to the locker room with a sprained ankle. Cleaves manages to hobble his way back to the court after being gone for 4-5 minutes. Mo Pete, Granger and Cleaves all put up some points and it felt it could go either way. Cleaves coming back really puts the team back on track and they manage to get the victory and win the title. My house was elated with excitement and we opened the front door and just started walking to Grand River. Everywhere we looked people were pouring out of houses, dorms, bars and joining the march. Everyone just sort of stopped on Grand River and, I don’t know, MAC maybe and sang. Thousands of people singing the fight song, cheering, hugging, high fives. That’s when we all knew Izzo was something special, what he did with this team and bringing the first title since 79’ changed MSU basketball forever. He made MSU a tournament regular, put the program on the biggest pedestal it’s ever been on. Thank you Coach Izzo for the standard, the heart, and the care for the students, culture and campus. Happy birthday!
Mike:
If recency bias is allowed, I’m going with this year. I think I mentioned before how much I’m really hoping this continues to work out for Izzo. He went after, and got, a top transfer target in Frankie Fidler but also rebuked calls to give a giant bag of cash to some all-world center and instead brought in Szymon Zapala. Izzo was criticized, or at least questioned, for it but, so far, it’s working out pretty well.
It appears to be a team of Izzo’s type of guys who keep winning first. The bench players contribute massively – look no further than Saturday’s win against Rutgers – don’t seem to complain about playing time and just seem happy to contribute. The team seems to believe in Izzo’s tenets of defend, rebound, and run, are entertaining to watch, and probably have yet to play their best basketball.
Izzo mentioned in an interview with Jay Wright before the Rutgers game that he tried to change how he coaches for a couple years but has now gone back to the principles he really believes in. It’s refreshing to see this work out, to this point, when so many other coaches similar to Izzo, like Wright, have decided to move on from coaching.
But obviously there’s a long way to go and it remains to be seen how the whole thing will play out. The team hasn’t faced any real adversity yet. They haven’t had a serious injury, lost a game they shouldn’t, or been blown out. Eventually they will drop a game, or even hit a rough period, and it will be interesting to see how they respond.
Izzo seems determined to make sure his guys know they are good, but not yet great. How that plays out through adversity, whether it begins to wear on the team or continues to motivate them, may be a key when adversity eventually hits. But so far, I’m enjoying being able to cover this team.
If less recency bias is required for this assignment, I’ll go with the last Final Four year – 2019. The Spartans beat Michigan twice in the last four games of the regular season and then faced them again in the Big Ten Tournament championship. MSU was down 8 at halftime and Kyle Ahrens suffered a really bad ankle injury in the first half, I think. Matt McQuaid told Ahrens on the bench “don’t worry, I’m about to go off” and then did exactly that with 27 points in 39 minutes, including seven threes.
MSU would get to the Final Four with a 68-67 win over Duke and Zion Williamson in what was just a great, high level, back and forth college basketball game. I mostly remember that last inbounds play where Xavier Tillman seemed to subtly motion to a spot for Cassius Winston to go on the floor, then hit him with the inbounds pass, and then Winston ran out the clock while smiling and dribbling away from the Duke defenders trying to foul him. Winston played all 40 minutes and scored 20 while Tillman had 19. Kenny Goins also hit a huge three over Williamson to put the Spartans ahead with 34 second left, after Williamson blocked one of his earlier shots.
O:
Well, my cowriters certainly took a lot of the good ones. The look on Izzo’s face (11:00 mark) after the 2019 Duke win was priceless. Obviously, the national championship in 2000 is something I will never forget. That was my sophomore year, and I was one of the lucky winners of the season ticket holders lottery who got to go to the Final Four in Indy. I was in the 9th row behind the basket (the one next to MSU’s bench in the Final) for all three of that weekend’s games. And, as Brian pointed out, we have had instances where we see Izzo outside the role of basketball coach. For me, one of my greatest memories of Coach comes from perhaps the most somber moment in MSU’s history, the 2023 campus shooting. A few days later, MSU held a vigil, and Tom was invited to speak . His words were powerful and really showed how he is the face of Michigan State University; he had the capability to provide some comfort and solace to the entirety of Spartan Nation even in the midst of so much sorrow. That speech really showed how much he means not just to the players in that locker room, but to everyone on that campus, past and present. I watched that event live on TV and I remember being thankful for Izzo’s words that night. And I am always thankful that we Spartans get to claim him as our own.
And to end this on a more cheerful note, I will add one more personal story. I attended the game in the 2023-24 season against Baylor at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. We came into that game with a 4-5 record having already lost to a pair of top ten teams in Duke and Arizona plus both our early conference games. Things were not looking good, but then that game happened. To put it lightly, MSU beat the snot out of Baylor. For me, that performance came out of nowhere, so in the press conference afterwards, I asked Coach “What were the practices like leading up to this game?’ I was wondering if they had taken a different approach to prepare for Baylor, and if that was responsible for the way the team played. Well, Tom did not like that question and he did not hesitate to let me know. His answer was something along the lines of “We had balloons and trumpets and it was a celebration. What the hell did you think our practices were like?” It will always be an honor to have been roasted by Tom Izzo.
Now let’s hear from you, TOC Nation. Please share your favorite Izzo stories.
Happy 70th, Coach. May MSU Basketball continue to make you feel young.