MSU's Izzo 'Excited' For What Lies Ahead as Year 30 Nears Tip-Off
Tom Izzo is simply excited for his 30th season as the head coach of Michigan State men's basketball. He has said as much throughout the weeks leading up to tonight's season opener against Monmouth.
Sure, Izzo has concerns about the current state and future of college athletics. He has said plenty about that, as well. But as the gap in the door that is his illustrious career as the Spartans' head coach becomes more and more narrow with each passing year, Izzo is making sure to value the time he has left at the helm.
It was evident last month when he took his team to his old stomping grounds to take on his alma mater, Northern Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. It was evident when he took his squad to Game 3 of the ALDS to watch the Detroit Tigers host the Cleveland Guardians. It was evident when he and the group went to Spain back in August.
"Memory-makers," he called it all.
Tonight, Year 30 begins for Izzo. And it's going to look a lot different from Year 1.
"Year 1, I was nervous as hell," Izzo said this past Friday. "Year 30, I'm just excited as hell. And I just feel like I'm in a good place for me, my team's getting better; I think we got some things solidified in some of those exhibition games. I'm looking forward to whether we can put them to good use. But I'm excited, I really am. Year 30, whatever year it is, it is a monumental year, I guess, but what I'm looking forward to [is] -- having a great year, but I'm looking forward to getting started. I really am."
When you've been in the game as long as Izzo has, it's easy to find yourself reflecting. After all, he has 29 years as a head coach that he can pick out like a collection of vinyl records on a shelf.
But he's focused on what's ahead.
"I am totally looking forward right now, " Izzo said at his program's media day last month. "Looking back will be for when I retire. ... New conference, lot of challenges ahead. That's going to be exciting and it's going to be nerve-wracking. ... But those are things that everybody's got to do. So, it will be fun to see what the challenges are.
"So, I am really looking forward -- I won't say to the next 30 years, even though I kind of am since I would be my mother's age then, and she looks damn good, man, for her age. I always said that women are, you are 39 forever. And once you get 90, then you can start talking about your real age. So, she's 98, I figure I got a lot of years ahead of me -- not that many to coach -- but the ones that I have to coach, I'm pretty excited about. I really am."
Izzo has praised the resurgence of Michigan State's athletics as a whole. And even though his program has been the most successful of any sport during his team holding the reins, it has fallen behind in recent years.
Not only does Izzo want to get his program back to elite status, but he wants to do it for the university as well.
"I want our program to be part of the spokes of getting this place all back together," he said.
Michigan State's season opener against Monmouth tips off at 7 p.m.
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
