Tom Izzo Addresses the Growing Number of Transfers Inside College Basketball & If He Plans On Recruiting Them More!

Hondo: Yesterday the NCAA came out with their transfer list, which is 350 players strong this year. You are one of the elite schools that when guys look to

Hondo: Yesterday the NCAA came out with their transfer list, which is 350 players strong this year. You are one of the elite schools that when guys look to transfer they look at you. Has recruiting almost become those who are yet to get into college? And do you have to look at that list and decide if there’s anybody on there you want to recruit?

Izzo: Well, I think one of the more disappointing things of college basketball is what we’ve let happen in the transfer. Kids are transferring, they never fight through anything, and for awhile coaches were talking about running players off. That is gonna start happening because of the way this transfer thing is going. It’s almost becoming NFL free agency. We’re letting them transfer now and be eligible immediately in a lot of cases. We’re having them transfer no matter what their grades are. And if they do transfer and their grades aren’t right the coach gets punished, not the player. We’re doing a lot of bizarre things here. I think in society there’s nothing wrong with a transfer if things didn’t work out. I had a kid, Maurice Joseph, great kid, a Davis kid. Those were the only 2 transfers I had in my first 15 years. They transferred and both wanted to be closer to home. Really, really players that were not really good enough to play as many minutes and felt like if they went to a different level they could. So between that and home, it was great. Kids transferred because of problems they’ve created sometimes. Then it gets to be a little differently. So the transfer part of this is getting to be epidemic. It’s getting to be, If you don’t like it here I’ll just transfer to there. There are some very good coaches around the country that I met with this past weekend at the camp I was at in Virginia. A couple of them were from high programs that say, We’re just looking for either the 5th year player or the transfer player, because we don’t have to put up with as much in the recruiting. You’ve got a kid who’s a little more savvy, a little more mature. You look at that same thing in the NBA and it’s crazy drafting these freshmen and sophomores as it used to be, because I think it was creating some problems.

Hondo: Do you see yourself beginning to recruit more transfers?

Izzo: I don’t wanna, I really don’t. We will always keep our options open and then look at things. But I still believe that I want kids that are all in, you know? I will say this… When Brandon Wood came here… I just talked to him the other day, he’s over in Europe…he fit in pretty well. But there’s nothing like building your team on the Cleaves, and the Petersons, the Richardsons, the Alan Andersons, Torberts, and now more recently, Waltons and Greens. Guys that have been in it four, they and really feel and taking some ownership in the program. That’s the way I like to do it now. We have to do what we have to do to win and be as competitive as possible. So I’d say it’s not a direction I wanna go but it just has to be sprinkled in there now and then for different reasons. It might have to happen.

Hondo: Bobby Bowden said on my TV show that when a player transfers, if he goes somewhere because he wants to play and loves the game, he feels like his staff did their job recruiting players that love the game. When they can accept not playing he feels like they failed. He says if you get enough kids who love the game even over talent, you’ll win national titles. Do you agree with him?

Izzo: I love Bobby Bowden and I agree with part of it. You definitely don’t want a kid who’s not complaining, because you want kids to wanna be pros, wanna be starters, wanna be stars. The bottom line that I think most people, is hard to fathom, is not all these kids want that. So then if they’re transferring and haven’t worked, then I struggle with that. Because then it all falls on the coach. If they work their tail off like the two I told you earlier and just weren’t quite good enough, I don’t think I’d blame my staff. Number one, I’d be part of it. I’m in on the recruiting process. But I would say maybe we made a mistake. We’re not perfect either. But I just think so many of these things are determined… I look at a Travis Walton, a Morris Peterson, top recruits… There’s getting to be less top recruits right now. A lot less top recruits that really are working. The McDonald’s guys aren’t always the NBA players anymore. It’s almost like the process kinda ruins guys when we get them. I think we gotta start getting back to old schooling it. You’re gonna get to the NBA. I just called 18 teams on Adreian Payne and I think I realized it’s even harder to get into the NBA than I thought. The prima donnas, the guys that don’t work hard enough, they’re not gonna get there. (???) talent and 1 out of 50, but that is a very small number. I think it’s the same with guys transferring. The only problem I have is have they done all the things to give themselves the chance to be successful? Meaning…A little bit of patience, a lot of hard work, and are you a good teammate fitting in? If you’re not then you’re transferring for other reasons. I think it’s ridiculous.

Hondo: I recently had lunch with Coach Kramer, the legendary football coach, and Mark Dantonio. Coach Kramer said that if you ever have a player playing that is unhappy he wouldn’t want him. Do you agree with him?

Izzo: Jud Heathcote once told me that every freshman wants to transfer. I said, Why? He said, In high school you wouldn’t have recruited him unless he scored 25 points a game, had 10 rebounds and was the star on his team. Then they come to college and nobody’s scoring 25 points, so he’s unhappy already. It’s a good point. But do you grow up, do you learn, do you realize, do you see it? I don’t mind guys unhappy. I don’t mind guys coming into my office. But I’ll tell you what, I do mind when they can’t self-evaluate. That’s the struggle of the modern day athlete…or let’s take it further…person. They don’t self-evaluate. Some guys in your profession don’t work as hard as you do. Other guys, maybe there’s a couple that work harder. If you can self-evaluate and say, I’m gonna work 6 days a week and I’m gonna be really, really good. Somebody else says, I’m gonna work 7 days a week and be elite. And there’s somebody saying, I’m gonna work 3 days a week and get by by fooling them. I think that’s a problem.