Tom Izzo

Thomas Michael Izzo ; born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

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.

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.

Hired as head coach at Michigan State in 1995, Izzo is currently the longest-tenured basketball coach in the Big Ten Conference.

In addition, MSU set the Big Ten record for the longest home court winning streak between 1998 and 2002.

Several of these accomplishments led former ESPN analyst Andy Katz to deem Michigan State the top college basketball program for the decade of 1998 to 2007.

Izzo is currently the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten Conference and his teams are often recognized for their rebounding prowess and defensive tenacity.

He has won four national coach of the year awards and maintains a considerable coaching tree—several of his former assistants are currently head coaches at other Division I schools.

Izzo has won 10 regular-season conference titles, the third most in conference history.

He has also won the most Big Ten tourney titles (six) in conference history.

On March 6, 2022, Izzo surpassed Bob Knight for the most wins by a men's basketball coach at a Big Ten school with 663.

On January 30, 2024, Izzo earned his 700th career win.

Izzo, who is of Italian and Finnish descent, was born and raised in Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, near the border of Wisconsin.

In his hometown he met best friend and former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci.

Both he and Mariucci attended Iron Mountain High where they were teammates on the football, basketball and track teams.

In 1998, MSU's record in conference improved to 13–3 and Izzo won the first of his 10 regular-season Big Ten championships.

1998 also saw Michigan State begin a streak of 25 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, which is the 2nd longest current streak among Division I teams.

Izzo has a record of 54–23 in the NCAA Tournament.

In 1999, Izzo won his first of six 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.

In the instate rivalry with Michigan, Izzo's official record against the Wolverines is 31–14, although Michigan vacated five of their wins in the series at the start of his head coaching career.

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.

Izzo has led the Spartans to eight Final Fours in the NCAA Tournament, which include the NCAA National Championship in 2000 and a Runner-Up finish in 2009.

His teams have won ten Big Ten regular season titles and six Big Ten tournament titles in his 28 years at Michigan State.

Izzo has the most wins in school history and has appeared in 25 consecutive NCAA tournaments, the longest streak of tournament appearances all-time in men's college basketball.

He has never had a losing season as a head coach.

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.

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.

Izzo fell short of obtaining his second national championship in 2009 with a loss to North Carolina 89–72 in Detroit.

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."

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.