Tom Izzo

Playing career

Izzo was born and raised in Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he met best friend and former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci. Both attended Iron Mountain High where they were teammates on the football, basketball and track teams. At Northern Michigan University in Marquette, where they were roommates, Izzo played guard for the men's basketball team from 1973 to 1977. In his senior season, he set a school record for minutes played and was named a Division II All-American.

Early coaching career

After graduating from Northern Michigan, Izzo was head coach at Ishpeming High School for one season. He then took an assistant coaching job at Northern Michigan University from 1979 to 1983. Izzo was then named a part-time assistant at Michigan State in September 1983. After a short two-month stay in 1986 as an assistant coach at University of Tulsa, Izzo returned to Michigan State when assistant Mike Deane left to become head coach at Siena College. Prior to the 1990–91 season, then coach Jud Heathcote elevated Izzo to associate head coach. After Heathcote's retirement following the 1994–95 season and upon both Heathcote and the Michigan State Athletic Director's recommendation, Izzo was named the new head coach of men's basketball for MSU.

Head coach at Michigan State

Hired as head coach at Michigan State in 1995, Izzo is currently the longest-tenured basketball coach in the Big Ten Conference. He became the coach with the most wins in school history after winning his 341st game on November 29, 2009 to surpass Heathcote. In his first two seasons as head coach, Izzo went 9–9 finishing 6th and 7th in the conference and failed to make the NCAA Tournament. In 1998, MSU's record in conference improved to 13–3 and Izzo won the first of his seven regular-season Big Ten championships. 1998 also saw Michigan State begin a streak of 19 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, which is the 3rd longest current streak among Division I teams. Izzo has a record of 46–18 in the NCAA Tournament. In 1999, Izzo won his first of five Big Ten Tournament titles, and went to his first Final Four, the first of three straight Final Four appearances, joining Krzyzewski and Ben Howland as the only three coaches who have made three consecutive Final Fours since the NCAA Tournament bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. With the instate rivalry with Michigan, Izzo's official record against the Wolverines is 24–14. Although Michigan vacated 5 of their wins in the series at the start of his head coaching career, his record against them by itself remained unchanged.

In 2000, Izzo led MSU to its second NCAA national championship with an 89–76 win over Florida. Eighty-two percent of his players who completed their eligibility left MSU with a degree. Over the years, Izzo has been pursued by the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New Jersey Nets for head coaching jobs. After a brief flirtation with Cleveland, on June 15, 2010, Izzo reported to the Michigan State University's Board of Trustees that he would remain head coach of Michigan State, in which he stated he was "a Spartan for life."

Izzo fell short of obtaining his second national championship in 2009, losing to North Carolina 89–72. His streak of three straight Final Four appearances from 1999 to 2001 is the third-longest of all time, and his six Final Four appearances in the years 1999–2010 were matched by no other team in college basketball.

In 2013, Izzo was voted as the fifth angriest coach in college basketball by USA Today Sports, an honor that he cherishes.

On November 26, 2015, Izzo won his 500th career game, all with Michigan State, with a win over Boston College in the Wooden Legacy. On January 28, 2016, Izzo won his 513th career game moving him into second place past Gene Keady all time for wins by a coach in the Big Ten. He trails only Bob Knight.

On March 18, 2016, MSU suffered perhaps the single greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history when #15 seeded Middle Tennessee defeated the #2 seeded Spartans 90–81. It was believed that MSU was the equivalent of a #1 seed and Vegas odds had them pegged the favorite to win the title. Middle Tennessee led from start to finish and held off repeated Michigan State threats to take the lead. Despite that, Izzo stated that the team "resurrected me".

On October 13, 2016, Izzo won the Dean Smith Award which is awarded to “an individual in college basketball who embodies the spirit and values of the late North Carolina coaching great.”.

Hall of Fame

On April 4, 2016, Izzo was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo chose former Maryland head coach Gary Williams to introduce him at the Hall of Fame ceremony. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 9, 2016.

Coaching philosophy

Izzo's teams are known for strong guard play, toughness and rebounding. Izzo is famed for his "war" rebounding drill, in which the players wear football helmets and shoulder pads. His motto is "Players Play – Tough Players Win". His other coaching philosophies include, "he doesn't determine playing time, players do" and "A player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team." Izzo is also known for scheduling extremely tough non-conference schedules as preparation for the NCAA tournament in March.

High School All-Americans

Eighteen High School All-Americans have played for Tom Izzo at MSU:

M = McDonald's All-Americans; J = Jordan Brand All-Americans

Mr. Basketball

Thirteen Mr. Basketball winners have played for Tom Izzo at MSU.

Mr. Basketball of Michigan

Illinois

Indiana

Minnesota

National Player of the Year Awards

Under Izzo, two Spartans have earned National Player of the Year awards:

College All-America honors

Under Izzo, eight Spartans have earned All-America honors

All-Big Ten

Under Izzo, 20 different players have earned first or second team All-Big Ten conference recognition. Five players have been named Big Ten Player of the Year six times under Tom Izzo.

Big Ten Player of the Year

First Team

Second Team

Sixth Man of the Year

Freshman of the Year

NBA Draft

Since he took over as head coach, eighteen players have been selected in the NBA draft. Nine of those players have been drafted in the first round. The former players under Tom Izzo who have made the NBA are:

Undrafted players to appear in the NBA

NFL Draft

Two former Spartan basketball players have joined the National Football League after the conclusion of their college basketball careers.

NBA championships

Coaching tree

Two of Izzo's former assistants are currently head coaches at other schools:

One of Izzo's former players is currently a head coach:

Several former Izzo assistants were college head coaches:

Current Izzo assistants who were previously college head coaches:

USA basketball

Izzo was head coach of the USA Basketball men's team that took 4th place at the 2003 Pan American Games. Prior to that he was assistant coach of the team that had a 5–0 record and won the gold medal at the 2001 Goodwill Games. Izzo served on the Collegiate Committee of USA Basketball's 2005–2008 Quadrennium Committees.

Operation Hardwood

In 2005 and 2006, Izzo participated in Operation Hardwood, in which college coaches went to Kuwait military camps to coach basketball teams of American service members. Among the other coaches were Tubby Smith, Gary Williams, and Rick Barnes. In 2005, Izzo's team won the tournament championship.