Michigan State's Tom Izzo: 'I Want Everything I Can Have For the Student-Athlete'

Michigan State's men's basketball coach Tom Izzo expressed his thoughts on the transfer portal and NIL yet again.

March 21, 2024, Charlotte, NC, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo gestures against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at the Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo has been open about his opinion on the transfer portal and NIL time and time again.

Izzo is an old-school, traditional coach, and one of the last there is.

At the Detroit Economic Club meeting on Friday, Izzo once again stated his thoughts.

"Let's get something straight because there's so much said about it -- I want everything I can have for the student-athlete," Izzo said. "Everything. And I want everything I want for my own children. Everything. I want everything for you all. But 99% of us have gone through a process to become successful. And sometimes, when you're given too much at an early age, as we see with movie stars, or we see with people in music and that, it's never a great ending. And so, finding the happy-medium of doing what we can do for these student-athletes but yet, realizing that there is a process to being successful.

"And life -- I know my wife has tried to put me in the transfer portal a lot, but I'm still there. And you don't get to just transfer out of everything. And ... the combination of the transfer portal and NIL -- and with the true version of the NIL, like I'm 100% for the true version of the NIL. If Name, Image, and Likeness can make you money -- I'm not interested in pay for play, and I am upfront about it because I don't think in the end ... you read what some of these players are supposedly making. Now, don't believe everything you read by the way. But if it's even comparable to that, ask yourself as business men and women: 'What would my company pay a guy coming out of college? And when the figure that they're making in college is four times what they're going to make coming out, I, too, worry about mental health. So, I worry about the big picture.

" ... I keep saying I'm worried about the players more than, I think, some. They think I get a bad rap for that. I don't want to not give players money. I want them to be treated like they should be treated just like I want my own kids."

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