Michigan State Basketball: The Life and Legacy of Tom Izzo
24 seasons as head coach.
2000 NCAA National Champions.
Eight Final Four appearances.
Eight National Coach of the Year awards.
22-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
These are just some of the accomplishments Tom Izzo has achieved as the head coach of Michigan State men’s basketball.
Born on January 30, 1955 and a native of Iron Mountain, Michigan, Izzo attended college at Northern Michigan University and walked on to their basketball team. He attended both high school and college with former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci.
By the end of Izzo’s time with the Wildcats, he was a third-team Division II All-America selection.
From there, he immediately switched gears and decided to pursue coaching. After a brief stint at Ishpeming High School, he was hired on at Northern Michigan as an assistant.
In four years’ time, he left his alma mater to join Michigan State an as assistant coach.
Outside of a brief disappearance in 1986 to become the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Tulsa, Izzo has been with the MSU basketball program for 37 seasons.
He’d work his way up from assistant coach to associate head coach in July 1990 and was appointed head coach by then-MSU Athletics Director Merrily Dean Maker in April 1994. Former head coach Jud Heathcote retired as Izzo took over head coaching duties.
Off the court, Izzo has built the student section for MSU Men’s Basketball, the Izzone, self-handily, with a major milestone met when the annual Izzone Campout was introduced in 1996. Unless it rains, the campout is always held at Munn Field. Izzo is always present at the campout and he personally greets every student one-on-one.
Izzo preaches that the team plays for the Spartan community. It’s not about the players on the team but it’s about every Spartan cheering on the team whether at the Breslin Center, on campus or halfway across the world. Spartan fans stick around through thick and thin and for Izzo, it’s a two-way street.
Perhaps the most visual way of Izzo’s legacy is the construction of the Tom Izzo Hall of History, which opened in fall of 2017. Izzo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame the year prior for all of his accomplishments at Michigan State.
Long time Michigan State donors Bob and Julie Skandalaris named the Hall of History in Izzo’s honor, etching his name in Spartan history forever.
With all that said, Izzo is still coaching at Michigan State and still looking for that second national championship, one that he and the rest of the Spartan community want.
The Spartans, alongside the rest of the country, was robbed at a promising NCAA Tournament last spring due to COVID-19.
With one of the best recruiting classes coming to East Lansing in 2021, the 2021 season might be the year Izzo marks another check mark off his accomplishments list.
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