Tom Izzo

College coach infobox
Name = Tom Izzo
Sport = Basketball


ImageWidth = 240px
Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1955|1|30
Birthplace = flagicon|United States Iron Mountain, MI
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
College = Michigan State
Title = Head coach
Awards = Associated Press National Coach of the Year (1998)
Henry Iba Award (1998)
Big Ten Coach of the Year (1998)
Championships = NCAA Division I Tournament Championship - 1 (2000)
Final Four - 4 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005)
Big Ten Tournament Championship - 2 (1999, 2000)
Big Ten Regular Season Championship - 4 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
Accomplishments
Elite 8 - 5 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005)
Sweet 16 - 7 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008)
NCAA Tournament - 11 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
CurrentRecord = 303-129 (.702)
OverallRecord =
Player = *
Years = 1973–1977
Team = Northern Michigan
Position =
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1977–1978
1979–1983
1983–1995
1995–present
CoachTeams = Ishpeming HS
Northern Michigan (asst.)
Michigan State (asst.)
Michigan State
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Tom Izzo (born January 30, 1955 in Iron Mountain, Michigan) is the men's basketball coach for Michigan State University. Under Coach Izzo, the Michigan State program has been one of the most successful in the countryfact|date=March 2008, winning the national championship in 2000 and had ten players selected in the NBA draft, third most in the NCAA since 2000. ESPN's Andy Katz acknowledged that the Michigan State program under Tom Izzo has arguably been college basketball's top program over the past 10 years [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2862538] . The Spartans have reached the Final Four in four of the past nine seasons, more than any other team during that time. Izzo has won four national coach of the year awards. His 233 wins in his first ten years as head coach rank seventh in the history of college basketball. His streak of three straight Final Four appearances from 1999–2001 is the third-longest of all time.

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. Michigan State began a streak of eleven straight NCAA tournament appearances, which is the 5th longest current streak among Division I teams. During that run only Mike Krzyzewski (29) has more NCAA tournament wins than Tom Izzo (26). Izzo also joins Coach K and Ben Howland as the only three coaches that have made three consecutive Final Fours since the NCAA tournament bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Tom Izzo has coached his teams to four regular-season Big Ten championships, two Big Ten Tournament titles, four NCAA Final Four appearances, and one NCAA national championship. Since he became head coach, every player that he has recruited and who completed their full eligibility has gone to the Final Four. 82 percent of his players who completed their eligibility left MSU with a degree.

Coaching philosophy

Izzo's teams are known for guard play, toughness and rebounding. Izzo got attention when people learned of his "war" rebounding drills, in which the players have sometimes worn football helmets and shoulder pads. [http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/23/Columns/Spartans_are_bruisers.shtml] His motto is "Players Play – Tough Players Win" [http://www.scholastic.com/coach/article.asp?ItemID=191]

Player development

Eight McDonald's All-Americans have played for Tom Izzo at MSU (Mateen Cleaves - 1996, Jason Richardson - 1999, Zach Randolph - 2000, Marcus Taylor - 2000, Kelvin Torbert - 2001, Paul Davis - 2002 and Shannon Brown and Brandon Cotton - 2003). Six Spartans (Charlie Bell, Mateen Cleaves, Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel, Morris Peterson and Jason Richardson) have earned some form of All-America honors, while Chris Hill was a three-time Academic All-American and was named the 2005 "ESPN The Magazine" Academic All-American of the Year and 2005 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year by "Black Issues In Higher Education Magazine." Eighteen different players have earned all-Big Ten conference recognition.

Since 2000, ten have been selected in the NBA draft, third most in the NCAA. Six of those went in the first round. Some of the notable alumni are (current team): Morris Peterson (New Orleans Hornets), Charlie Bell (Milwaukee Bucks), Mateen Cleaves (formerly of the Seattle SuperSonics now playing in Greece), Zach Randolph (New York Knicks), Jason Richardson (Charlotte Bobcats), Alan Anderson (formerly of the Charlotte Bobcats, now playing in Italy), Shannon Brown (Chicago Bulls), Maurice Ager (New Jersey Nets), Paul Davis (Los Angeles Clippers).

Coaching tree

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

*Tom Crean, Indiana University
*Brian Gregory, University of Dayton
*Doug Wojcik, University of Tulsa
*Jim Boylen, University of Utah
*Stan Heath, University of South FloridaIn addition, Mike Garland used to be head coach at Cleveland State, and Stan Joplin was formerly the head coach of University of Toledo.

Playing career

Raised in Iron Mountain, Michigan along the Wisconsin border, Izzo attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette from 1973-77, where he played guard for the men's basketball team. 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 1979–83. Izzo was then named a part-time assistant at Michigan State in September 1983. After a short two month stay as a 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, then-current coach Jud Heathcote elevated Izzo to associate head coach. After Heathcote's retirement following the 1994-95 season and upon both his and the Michigan State Athletic Director's recommendation, Izzo was named the new head coach of men's basketball for MSU.

USA basketball

Izzo was head coach of the USA Basketball men's team 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 currently serves on the Collegiate Committee of USA Basketball's 2005-2008 Quadrennium Committees [http://www.usabasketball.com/news/usab_committees.html] .

Other coaching opportunities

Izzo has had opportunities to become a coach in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks offered him a head coaching job in 2000, following MSU's national championship. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/2000/05/11/hawks_izzo_ap/] He was contacted by the Toronto Raptors in 2004, but stated "I have a commitment to this program and that is to try to win another national championship." [http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=24427]

Tom Izzo was rumored to be a top candidate to replace Tubby Smith as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats after Smith accepted the head coaching job at the Minnesota Golden Gophers on March 22, 2007. Izzo was contacted by Kentucky administration, but declined to have formalized talks. Since then, Kentucky has hired Billy Gillispie away from Texas A&M.

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.

Head coaching record

CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=
postseason=
poll=noCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Michigan State
startyear=1995
conference=Big Ten Conference
endyear=Current|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1995–1996
name = Michigan State
overall = 16-16
conference = 9-9
confstanding = 7th
postseason = NIT 2nd Round

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1996–1997
name = Michigan State
overall = 17-12
conference = 9-9
confstanding = T-6th
postseason = NIT 2nd Round

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1997–1998
name = Michigan State
overall = 22-8
conference = 13-3
confstanding = T-1st
postseason = NCAA Sweet 16

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference tournament
season = 1998–1999
name = Michigan State
overall = 31-5
conference = 15-1
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Final Four

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = national
season = 1999–2000
name = Michigan State
overall = 30-7
conference = 13-3
confstanding = T-1st
postseason = NCAA ChampionsCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 2000–2001
name = Michigan State
overall = 27-5
conference = 13-3
confstanding = T-1st
postseason = NCAA Final Four

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2001–2002
name = Michigan State
overall = 18-12
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 5th
postseason = NCAA 1st Round

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2002–2003
name = Michigan State
overall = 21-13
conference = 10-6
confstanding = T-3rd
postseason = NCAA Elite Eight

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2003–2004
name = Michigan State
overall = 17-12
conference = 12-4
confstanding = T-2nd
postseason = NCAA 1st Round

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2004–2005
name = Michigan State
overall = 25-7
conference = 13-3
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA Final Four

CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2005–2006
name = Michigan State
overall = 21-12
conference = 8-8
confstanding = T-6th
postseason = NCAA 1st RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2006–2007
name = Michigan State
overall = 22-12
conference = 8-8
confstanding = T-7th
postseason = NCAA 2nd RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2007-2008
name = Michigan State
overall = 27-9
conference = 12-6
confstanding = 4th
postseason =NCAA Sweet 16CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Michigan State
overall = 305-130
confrecord = 145-69CBB Yearly Record End
overall= 305-130

Quotations

*“We’ll play anybody, anyplace, anytime. It doesn’t matter, morning, noon or night, and it doesn’t matter who it is.” [http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/columns/kevinmcneill/051119.htm]

*"Players Play – Tough Players Win." [http://www.scholastic.com/coach/article.asp?ItemID=191]

*"I'm so sick of people saying, 'He's a defensive coach, he's a rebounding coach.' I want to be a great defensive coach, a great rebounding coach, a great running-game coach, a great offensive-execution coach, a great special-teams-sidelines-out-of-bounds coach. I want utopia. I want my players to want utopia." [http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071230/SPORTS07/712300605/1055]

Notes

*His .722 winning percentage (26-10 record) in the NCAA tournament ranks third among all active coaches with 10 or more games coached [http://www.dbwoerner.com/basketball/coaches/all_108.html]
*Holds Big Ten record 53-game home court winning streak
*Named his son Steven Thomas Mateen Izzo, in honor of his best friend and former NFL head coach, Steve Mariucci, and also Mateen Cleaves, point guard on the 2000 National Championship Team [http://www.libraryo.com/article.aspx?num=68608438]
*Inducted to the Northern Michigan University Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Upper Peninsula Hall of Fame in 1997
*Every MSU Basketball player who has stayed 4 years under Coach Izzo has played in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.
*Big Ten winning percentage is the highest all-time of coaches with over ten years in the Big Ten.

References

* [http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/031406aao.html NCAA Tournament records] "CSTV.com", March 14, 2006, retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://members.aol.com/dbwoerner/page/coaches/coach106.htm Active coaches NCAA Tournament winning percentage] , retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/23/Columns/Spartans_are_bruisers.shtml "Spartans are bruisers, and proud of it"] by Gary Shelton, "St. Petersburg Times", March 23, 2003, retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://www.scholastic.com/coach/article.asp?ItemID=191 "Spartan Basketball: Training With a Football Mentality"] by Ken Mannie and Mike Vorkapich, "Scholastic.com", retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/2000/05/11/hawks_izzo_ap/ "Report: Hawks make offer to Izzo"] Associated Press wire story, "CNNSI.com", May 12, 2000, retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=24427 "Izzo not interested in Raptors, plans to stay put"] by Kelly Theiser, "The State News", June 15, 2004, retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/columns/kevinmcneill/051119.htm "Maui Invitational: Strength of Schedule"] by Kevin McNeill, "Collegehoopsnet.com", November 19th, 2005, retrieved August 7, 2006
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2790461&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines "Coaching Success Brings More Pressure] by Andy Katz, "ESPN.com", March 7, 2007, retrieved March 19, 2007

External links

* [http://msuspartans.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/izzo_tom00.html Brief biography] on MSU's web site
* [http://detnews.com/specialreports/2001/michiganians/izzo/izzo.htm "2000 Michiganians of the year: Tom Izzo"] by Dave Dye, "The Detroit News", April 8, 2001, retrieved August 7, 2006