A look at Tom Izzo and his staff for the 2024-25 season
I have an idea for a drinking game. Every time the commentators mention this is Tom Izzo’s 30th season as MSU’s head coach, you pour yourself a shot… and then you save all those shots and do them all on Senior Day. Who’s with me?
Yep, it has been 30 years under the great Tom Izzo. Over the next few days, the TOC staff will put out its season previews for the 2024-25 season. We will start here with the coaching staff, then we will look at the point guards, the wings, and the bigs. We will conclude our previews with a prediction piece, trying to foresee how this season will play out.
The coaching staff under Izzo looks very different this season. Two assistant coaches held other positions within the program last year, while a third is new to the program altogether. The fourth assistant will be in in his fourth season on the Spartan bench, and someone who was an assistant coach for the last six years is now the Associate Head Coach.
Doug Wojcik
The new Associate Head Coach is the most experienced member of the staff and the only one with a head coaching stint under his belt. Wojcik played collegiate basketball for Navy where he was a teammate of David Robinson, helping lead them to three straight Colonial Athletic titles and three straight trips to the Dance. After college, he served in the Navy for two years as an officer, and then began his coaching career at the Naval Academy. He also had stints at Notre Dame and North Carolina before first coming to MSU.
Wojcik was an assistant for Izzo in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. After the ‘05 Final Four run, he became the head coach at Tulsa. After seven years there, he moved on to the College of Charleston to be their head coach for the next two years. His next stop was at Gonzaga where he was an assistant to Mark Few for one year, and then he served one year at East Carolina as their assistant. And then Doug came back to East Lansing, where he has been since the 2018-19. He began as the Director of Recruiting. In 2021, he returned to Izzo’s bench, and this will be his first year as Associate Head Coach.
Thomas Kelley
The second most tenured member of the staff is a former Spartan player. Kelley played for MSU from 1994 to 1999, initially under Jud Heathcote and finishing as a fifth-year senior on Izzo’s first Final Four team. After college, he played professionally in six countries on the other side of the pond. Kelley returned to East Lansing in 2015 to be a graduate assistant. After three seasons, he got a job at Western Michigan, where he was an assistant coach for four seasons. He again came back to MSU ahead of the 2022-23 season and this will be his third season as a Spartan assistant.
Austin Thornton
Another former Izzo player, Austin played for MSU from 2007-08 until 2011-12, making it to five tournaments, four Sweet 16s, two Final Fours, and one Championship Game. In his senior season, he was a co-captain along with Draymond Green.
After graduating, he spent three years in the civilian world working in healthcare. Apparently, he missed the game too much and became a grad assistant at MSU in 2015, where he stayed for two seasons. He then played professionally abroad, in Australia and Europe. He came back to the Mitten State, starting his coaching career at Sparta High School, but after one year there, he rejoined the MSU program in 2021 as the Video Coordinator. After his three seasons in that role, Thornton is coming to the bench for the 2024-25 season.
Jon Borovich
Borovich played his college ball at Central Michigan, where he led the Chippewas to the NCAA Tournament in his senior year of 2000-01. Right out of school, Izzo hired him as a graduate assistant. After two years helping behind the scenes in East Lansing, he was hired as Dayton’s Director of Basketball Operations. Coaching was what he wanted to do, however, and he became an assistant at Oakland University. Two years with the Grizzlies preceded him returning to Dayton to be an assistant for the Flyers. He then made the move to Northern Illinois, where he stayed for eight years, the last four of which were as the Associate Head Coach.
In 2019, Jon came to the Big Ten, joining Northwestern’s coaching staff. Three years later, he (tell me if you’ve heard this before) returned to East Lansing. Tom Izzo made him the Director of Recruiting before the 2022-23 season. This offseason, he joined the coaching staff.
Saddi Washington
Saddi is the newest member of the MSU program and the only one with no direct ties to Izzo’s program. I did a profile about Washington a few months ago, right after he was hired, which you can read here .
Tom Izzo
What more is there to say about this guy that has not already been said. His track record and reputation speak for themselves. He is one of the most successful coaches in the history of college basketball. He is the senior statesman of the NCAA as many of his contemporaries have called it a career. He is the face of Michigan State University. And he still has the same passion, excitement, and drive to succeed as he did when he took over the program. It is no wonder why he is in the record books as the coach to lead his program to the most consecutive NCAA Tournaments (26 and counting). So here we go! Season #30! Cheers to you, Coach Izzo!