WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tom Izzo rants and raves, delivers corrective messaging to players nostril-to-nostril, and the Michigan State Spartans are in the Sweet 16 for the 17th time despite a sideline demeanor critics might find less than endearing.
Go ahead and write those feelings on his dry-erase board. Outside opinions aren’t going to starting sticking to Izzo now.
“I’m at one point in my career that I’m happy. I don’t give a damn. I don’t. But I’ll tell you what, I don’t have many players that leave. I don’t have many players that don’t come back. So somebody must enjoy something.”
That something is most likely winning.
Izzo’s Spartans are in the NCAA Tournament for the record 27th consecutive season and two wins shy of his ninth Final Four appearance. Most can agree style and culture have far more to do with the success of his current team as compared to the richly talented No. 1 seed in the East, Duke.
Before the games get going Friday, Izzo defended what has been described as abrasive or domineering communication with players by echoing former NBA player and current basketball analyst Charles Barkley’s opinion that “parents and media have gotten soft.”
“I definitely think it’s a problem. God bless Charles,” Izzo said Thursday in his trademark gravelly rasp indicative of the decibel level he likely reached in the Spartans’ workout at the Sweet 16.
“It’s so misunderstood sometimes, too. I mean, everybody says stuff differently. I had a football coach that couldn’t say hello without swearing. Didn’t mean he was mad at me. It was just part of his language. I’m Italian, I speak with my hands, sometimes my voice.”
Off-court distractions and a shorter attention span to focus are part of what Izzo observed as reasons for sparking his infamous temper. If you aren’t familiar, try asking Google about Izzo snapping on a former player, Paul Davis, who was ejected from his seat as a paying customer in East Lansing this year because he was criticizing game officials. Or his blown gasket in a 2019 huddle with then-freshman Aaron Henry.
To Izzo, the expectations he places on himself are likewise put on his players.
“You know what, do your job right, go to class, I don’t want to hear about not going to class. Cutting out, I don’t want to hear about cutting out,” Izzo explained. “If you’re that dumb — bad word but the truth — that you think any coach in America would be yelling at a guy because he did it wrong once or twice or five time or 10 times, you have no idea what coaching is all about.”
Izzo definitely knows what winning is all about. He has 764 career victories since being hired in 1995.
On Friday night, there will be an effective Izzo impersonator on the other sideline in UConn’s Danny Hurley. He’s become the modern-day posterchild as a hot-button coach drenched in success and ever capable of flipping from thrilled to tantrum in the time it takes to reset the shot clock.
Hurley, 53, is arguably behind his time. Izzo said 24 years ago he ran drills in practice with players in full football pads to stress physicality in rebounding. Why? Ohio State outrebounded Michigan State, and the punishment for the crime was to buckle their chinstraps. Izzo filmed the practice. He said players from that team come back and want to see the film.
“Hell, once lawyers started suing everybody, that film is in the deep six,” he said. “It was fun. It was a memory-making moment. It was enjoyable. Everybody takes things so personal now.”
The coaches with similar sideline dispositions are friends off the court. They speak often. It’s no surprise one of the first text messages Hurley sent after booking a spot in the Sweet 16 last weekend was to Izzo. Their teams played a late preseason exhibition — UConn won by seven — in October as the final leg of regular-season preparation.
Emotion spilled on both benches. But Izzo meant no harm. To him, it’s what it takes to shape a winner as an individual and the collective team.
“Our job? Accountability is going to be big until I leave. If that bothers some people, God bless them. I’m going against Danny Hurley. I love Danny Hurley,” Izzo said. “Not because it’s a love fest. Not because I have to say the right things. He’s not afraid of saying what he has to say to the players he has. He’s even better to me; he takes it to the officials. I love that about him, I really do.
“But do you ever question his passion? Do you ever wonder if he really cares?”
