Izzo’s not quitting. So now what?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tom Izzo isn't burned out. Let's start there.
He's also ready to change.
Not radically, he admits. But he knows if he wants to get his Michigan State basketball program back to where it was, he doesn't have a choice.
He could retire, I suppose. But that'd be like asking a shark to stop swimming. And Izzo can't stop swimming, which means he's got to adapt, and quickly. Or at least “die trying.”
Those were his words late Saturday night outside the Spartans' locker room at the Spectrum Center, after another season ended in the NCAA tournament's first weekend. That's the sixth firstweekend exit in eight seasons, if you're counting — and Izzo knows that you are, and should be. He knows, too, that he's the reason you're counting.
It should be noted that MSU made a Final Four in that span and won the Big Ten regular-season title – and then the tournament crown – in a single year (2019). The Spartans won a share of the league title the next season and were good enough for another deep run into March, or maybe April.
If not for the COVID-19-induced shutdown, who knows?
Before anyone dismisses what that means, ask Purdue ... or Illinois ... or Indiana: Three Big Ten powers who've yet to make an Elite Eight since MSU made the national semifinals.
Not that MSU can rest on its laurels: In the four years since their last Big Ten title, the Spartans have finished eighth, seventh, fourth and sixth in the Big Ten, and made the NCAA tournament's second weekend once (last year).
That's fine at Iowa.
Not at MSU. Not with the standard Izzo setup.
He has always been candid after losses — especially after season-ending losses. He rips open his soul and lets it flow. He can't help it.
After losing to North Carolina on
Saturday, though ... after watching yet another, other team this season make the winning plays, the plays that matter, the shots — banked or not — that matter, after watching a team with more size and more skill on the block, after watching a team pull away on the strength of its transfers — yes, transfers — the MSU coach was even more philosophical.
His assessment?
His team underachieved. He underachieved. He didn’t figure out his team until it was too late. He didn’t connect with a few of his players as he wished he could.
“I’ve got to do a better job,” he said. “I’m really disappointed with me.”
He is desperate for another deep tournament run. He has to change to make it happen. Either that or call it a career.
But, as he said late Saturday when asked if he felt the clock ticking, he’s nowhere near ready to retire.
“(Nick) Saban is 73, 74,” Izzo said. Actually, Saban is 72, but Izzo’s point stands. The longtime Alabama football coach — and former MSU football coach — has at least three years on Izzo. That’s enough time for another run.
“If somebody wants me out (before then), that’s fine,” he said. “I’ll go somewhere else.”
But?
He swears he has had as much fun the past couple of weeks as he has had in the last few years. Swears, too, that this group — perplexing as it was — energized him during this mini-run.
He’ll need the energy to navigate the transfer portal, from whence help must come for next season. He plans to do this. He said he’ll start by finding and leaning on “some people that I really respect in this profession.”
It won’t be an overhaul — his word. He’s going to tweak — also his word.
That’s a step, though the most important step is realizing he’s got to take one, no matter how much he despises the changes in the game.
Another big would help. A wing who can check and shoot seems necessary, too. Relying solely on another year from Mady Sissoko — it’s possible — or enough development from Carson Cooper is risky. So is banking on Coen Carr developing a reliable jump shot and a high-level feel for the game.
Carr may get there in time. He needs another year or two, though, and giving the freshman six months to transform into something he has never been is a gamble. Too much of one.
Yet mastering the portal isn’t the only thing Izzo has on his list. Part of this year’s struggle was his failure to figure out his team. Sissoko is a primary example.
Izzo lamented that Sissoko didn’t develop the way he thought he could this season. That, if anything, he regressed. (Though as Izzo pointed out, Sissoko, who has a fifth year of eligibility if he wants, dealt with some personal issues, including the death of his grandmother.)
Still, Sissoko has always been private, and Izzo admitted he has struggled to open him up. He wants to get better at that. A.J. Hoggard is another example.
Like Sissoko, the guard has another year of eligibility. Don’t expect him back, though; Izzo said the plan before this season was that Hoggard would finish this year and move on.
Izzo brought up Hoggard because he couldn’t reach him, either. Hoggard finally started leading the team the last couple of weeks. It wasn’t a coincidence the team began to compete more consistently.
Yes, the senior had a rough night against the Tar Heels.
But Izzo’s right: If he’d been able to unlock Hoggard and help his point guard lead sooner, the season might have been different.
“I told A.J. if he led like he did the last couple weeks throughout his career ...” he said, before interrupting his thought with this: “It’s the coach’s job to help develop that.”
This is a surprising admission for a coach who has been a master at connecting with players and understanding them. One of his more underrated gifts has always been his sense of human nature.