MSU's Tom Izzo Talks Year 31, Announces Team Captains
EAST LANSING --- Monday was the very first day of official practice for Michigan State men's basketball, but that didn't stop head coach Tom Izzo from talking about his program for a little more than 35 minutes.
Izzo talked about a wide range of topics, from the abrupt retirement of Auburn's Bruce Pearl, to MSU's Grind Week, to Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney. He also announced who the team's four captains will be.
Full video of Izzo's press conference can be found below.
Watch Tom Izzo here:
Here is also a partial transcript of the beginning of the press conference.
Transcript
IZZO: Well, kind of a strange day with (Bruce) Pearl (retiring). I said, everybody that beats me in a tournament resigns. Mike Krzyzewski beat me, he resigned that year (at Duke). Bruce Pearl beat me, he resigned that year. Or retired, or whatever the words are.
But (you're) still stuck with me, sorry.
Kind of a good day for me though, because, let's see, I'm not resigning. Second thing is, I just had a granddaughter.
Q: Two now?
IZZO: Yeah, I got two now. It came at 8:30, 9 o'clock this morning. And it's the first day of practice, so, that's a pretty good day for me.
It's hard to believe, isn't it, that it's the first day and (September) 22nd. It just seems like it's getting earlier and earlier. But, we're kind of excited to get going, as you can imagine.
And I think, you know, I'm not going to get into all the things, because we'll have a major press conference, and I'll let you ask me what questions you want.
You know, our four mainstays, the four guys that are back that have all started here, including Jaxon (Kohler), Coen (Carr), and Jeremy (Fears Jr.), I think have all made significant improvement. What does significant improvement mean? I don't know. But, I think every one of them are shooting it better.
Carson (Cooper) has really, I think, lifted his game. Jaxon, I think, is in best shape, which really helps him. Coen looks better than he looked before, and he's shooting it better. And Jeremy, too, I think, having a whole summer to really work on his game has really helped him.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.