Tom Izzo Goes 1 on 1 with Spartan Nation

Tom Izzo Goes 1 on 1 with Spartan Nation Q: It’s the best in game coach in the nation and a future Hall of Famer, Tom Izzo. Hi Tom. A: Hi Hondo. That’s

Tom Izzo Goes 1 on 1 with Spartan Nation

Q: It’s the best in game coach in the nation and a future Hall of Famer, Tom Izzo. Hi Tom.

A: Hi Hondo. That’s quite an introduction.

Q: Let’s start with Branden Dawson. How has his recovery this summer been going?

A: That’s a good question, Hondo. Everybody talks about different people and I feel bad for Branden. He’s almost been a forgotten soul from the standpoint of…he was having a great freshman year, averaging close to 10 points, 5 or 6 rebounds. He became one of our best defenders at the end of the year. And then his sophomore year… He’s the Adrian Peterson of basketball, you know. In 7 ½ months he came back from major knee surgery. He’s really done a heck of a job all year again, averaging almost 9 points, same amount of rebounds. But considering he missed 7 ½ to 8 months of maybe the most important time for a player who needed skill development, he did a great job. This summer he’s improved his shot, he’s improving his body. I think he’s had the best summer of his life and I think we’ll be ready for…. Hopefully he’ll breakout junior year.

Q: In my opinion, if the NCAA wants to limit practices and all that, I don’t have an issue with that. But I think they need to open it up and allow coaches to have more time with their kids. They want to hold coaches accountable and limit your time with the players! Am I wrong?

A: Well, I think, as you know, this past year they gave us 2 hours a week for 8 weeks in the summer. I am amazed at the one part that you just said. I can’t figure out how you can be responsible for your kids by being able to see them 2 hours a day. During the year even they only allow 20 hours a week, and that includes meetings and everything else. I’m not saying I would practice anymore, because I wouldn’t. But the way the rules are, somebody that’s making them is not dialed in to the reality of day to day activities. I think all of us in life, not just in sports, too many times people that are making the rules and decisions are people that never come down to the basement. After all the work that’s being done… It’s people that live in ivory covered homes that maybe carry the power, but they aren’t the day to day people that are out on the street. When it comes to recruiting rules of players I wish coaches had more input but that doesn’t happen very often.

Q: In a social media society where everything is “right now”, there are things that shouldn’t be shared. Is that fair?

A: Well, you know I grew up with…there was no social media, of course…and as you know Hondo, because you and I have talked about it, I don’t dislike it and I don’t hate it…I despise it. And only, because as everything else, there’s some good to it. But I think what people can say behind a keyboard is a lot more damaging and a lot more…you have a lot more courage behind a keyboard than you do face-to-face. So then you have to determine as a coach, as a parent, for you as a company and the people that work for you, how much of that information is true. Some say that 30-40% that’s out there is even true. I don’t know that percentage, but it creates a big problem. Jud Heathcote taught me one thing, and why I think I have a good relationship with you and some media members... Everybody’s got a job to do. I picked my job. The guy selling cars picked his, the guy that’s a teacher picked his, the guy that’s in the media picked his. You have a family, you have a job to do. You just kinda hope, as I hope… I like to treat players like I hope somebody would treat my own kids. You kinda hope that same thing from the media, you know. I hope they treat me as they’d want me to treat them. I think there’s some jerks that are coaches and I think there are some that are media members. So I think some of your statement is true, but yet I appreciate the job you have to do. I appreciate the fact that you do benefit us in a lot of ways. If not for the media, a lot of things wouldn’t get out there that are good. So moderation is the key to everything. I think we both have jobs to do that are tough jobs in the public eye. I try to understand it but if I think something’s wrong, as you know, I’ll call it out…usually behind closed doors. And I think that’s the way you’ve handled it with me, behind closed doors. That I appreciate greatly.

Q: How is Gary Harris progressing this summer?

A: Gary’s had an incredible week, month and year as far as the summer goes. Each day he’s getting his arm stronger. He does his rehab all the time. He opted not to have surgery. It looks like it was a good decision. He’s playing some of his best basketball. I can only say this…I’m sure he’ll get covered different and there will be different things….but he’s a much better player now than he was a year ago. He’s maybe one of my hardest workers, one of my more intelligent players and one of the great people that I think we have here at Michigan State. So you put all those things together and, barring injury and some severe change in attitude, I think he’s gonna be one of the great superstars that we’ve had in Michigan basketball lore.

Q: Someone asked me recently what Gary’s greatest strength is. I said the most underrated part of Gary Harris is that he’s a good teammate; he’s doesn’t bellyache, he passes, he plays defense… Am I oversimplifying it?

A: You’re really not. In fact, you’re probably right on the mark. I said the type of teammate he is and the fact that most superstar two guards, shooting guards, whatever you wanna call them, don’t guard many people. You said at the end here he doesn’t complain and he plays defense. Not many guys do that. He’s one of my best defenders, if not the best defender, as a freshman. I don’t think there’s any question that that’ll even get better this year. So yeah, the type of kid he is, the type of teammate he is and the fact that he’s willing to work that a lot of stars aren’t willing to do, makes him unique, special and I’m just happy as hell we got him.

Q: Talk about your new freshmen, would you please?

A: Well you know what, for the listeners, we get two hours a week now. For the most part we try to have freshman in the month of July while we’re out recruiting two 1 hour sessions. I’ve also opened up in June where we have three 40 minute sessions. We can do it any way we want. We can even do one 2 hour session. I’ve gotten the chance with Schilling, Alvin Ellis to really get a feel for them that you don’t get most of the time when freshmen come in. Gavin Schilling I think can help us immediately. He’s 6’9”, he’s tougher than nails, he’s athletic, he rebounds, he’s very smart. His father was an Olympic team handball player. He comes from good stock. I think he’s gonna be a great addition. He played at Findlay Prep which means he played against the best in the whole country. Alvin Ellis is a kid who committed to Minnesota early, his sophomore year of high school. And then when Tubby Smith left he just didn’t wanna go there. I hadn’t really recruited him. I got a call from Tubby and a couple AAU coaches that I know in Chicago…they swore by him. And he hasn’t disappointed me. He’s a little thin…I gotta get him some strength and weight. But at 6’4” almost, he’s athletic, he can shoot it. He’s kind of a complete player. I think added strength is gonna make him special.

Q: The SCC coaches recently came out and said they would be willing to pay the $300 stipend per game so families could go to the games and watch their kids play. Would you like to see something like that happen?

A: Well, I’ve been on the board for 12 years…I just got off. My number 1 or 2 thing was dealing with the NBA and the guys coming out early and the second one was paying for parents. At least, Hondo, at least the NCAA Tournament and the Big 10 Tournament. Things that can be planned a little bit. At least their hotel room and tickets and things like that; airfare would be great. I think it’s a shame that our kids are helping everybody make money and their own families can’t get to those games. So I 400% agree with that. I think it’s a shame we haven’t done it. Some of these problems all stem from, you know, who… You can’t do it for one set of athletes... Basketball makes enough money where they could pay for it. They do it for one, they do it for all. I think that’s where the problems come in.

Q: I asked a couple of coaches you compete against at a high level about you for an article coming soon in Spartan Nation Magazine. They said a guy with your work ethic and your ability to develop hard-nosed players may give you an advantage moving forward with the bad changes in college basketball recruiting. Please elaborate about that style of yours.

A: Well, everybody’s gotta have a style and as you know there’s a lot of different way to do a lot of different things. But I think when the day’s over you still gotta have some credibility, you still gotta develop some family atmosphere so guys do become good teammates. And you have to have a mental and physical toughness to win championships. You can win games one way, but it takes a whole different way to win championships. I think that’s what’s gonna be really important. I think that’s what’s helped our development of players. We’ve taken guys and helped them be mentally tougher, which helps them in life; physically tougher, which helps them in sports. I think to be at the top, both of those things are essential.

Q: You have always embraced football for as long as I’ve covered you. To see the university step up and fix this way underfunding of football…it helps and benefits you, doesn’t it?

A: Hondo, there’s no question that we all need football. I know everybody looks at it differently. There was a time, not now but way back, when I think there was a rift between men’s and women’s sports. Then there was a time when there was a rift between basketball and football… still is at some universities. And yet I’ve always, ever since I’ve been here, been a big advocate of football because I love it, one…but two…that’s number one, financially…number two, just the exposure you get and what it does for our whole Athletic Department and our university, I think is phenomenal. So I’ve been a big football fan. A lot of coaches… I mean, I’m a bigger football fan of Mark Dantonio. He’s such a class guy. He does it the right way. And I think he’s building a heck of a program. If it wasn’t for all those close losses we would have had 3 or 4 incredible years in a row, which hasn’t happened here. I think we’ll have another great year this year. I’ll be either on the field or in my normal seats that I’ve had for 29 years, cheering them on.