Beyond records, Tom Izzo’s impact at Michigan State and for college basketball may never be matched

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There will never be another Tom Izzo.

It’s admittedly a bit strange to say that about a person who is still living, still breathing, still coaching. In fact, he’ll be on the sidelines later Tuesday night, as his 14th-ranked Spartans host No. 13 Purdue in a matchup that could shake up the top of the Big Ten standings. Izzo has swatted away questions about retirement for a while now, reiterating ahead of this season — his 30th as the head coach of the Michigan State men’s basketball program — that last spring’s hip replacement surgery left him feeling “healthier and happier now” than he was years prior.

But none of that means we should take Izzo for granted, certainly not as we sit here a few days removed from his 354th Big Ten win, which pushed him past former Indiana legend Bob Knight to become the winningest coach in league history. Izzo is already a Hall of Famer, but he’s also one of the last of a dying breed.

We aren’t going to see one coach stay at one school for 42 years like Izzo has — 30 years as the head coach, 12 years before that as an assistant. He is synonymous with Michigan State the school, not just Michigan State the basketball team. His name is literally on the university’s new state-of-the-art football building. He’s spent more than half of his 70 years on this planet in East Lansing, pouring himself into that community and its basketball program.

There are plenty of basketball-related achievements we should discuss, I suppose. There’s the 2000 national championship and the eight trips to the Final Four. He’s taken the Spartans to a record 26 consecutive NCAA Tournaments while winning 10 Big Ten regular-season championships.

“I’d give up the Big Ten wins record for two more NCAA Tournament championships,” Izzo said.

Knight, of course, had those three national championships to go along with all of those Big Ten victories. And that does eat at Izzo, even though he’s got one national title to his name. It’s been a quarter…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/beyond-records-tom-izzos-impact-130000115.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2025-02-18 13:00:00

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