Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo
Thomas Michael Izzois an American college basketball coach. Since 1995, he has been the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, presiding over a prolonged period of success. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 January 1955
CityIron Mountain, MI
door knocking knows program successful threat truly wins
What I think a successful program is, is not the one who wins it every year, but the one that is truly knocking at the door and everyone knows every year. They are a threat to do something.
coach great players win
When the players want to win more than the coach, that's a great sign, and I see that.
airplane bus head hotel incredible knew national pulled run says walked won
When we won the national championship (in 2000), it was an incredible run and an incredible week, but when I walked off the airplane and pulled up to the hotel and someone pokes his head in the bus and says 'Thank you,' I knew what this was going to be about,
broken hated knew lose people streak
There are times when I knew people hated to come in here. And once your streak is broken there's a difference. You're invincible, but once you lose there's a little chink in the armor.
consistent depth good needed sad talent team three tough
The really sad part is, I thought this team had enough talent to go a long way. We had three really good players, but we just didn't have enough depth and we were never as consistent or tough as we needed to be.
good guys prolific three total
We have not had three guys as prolific as those three. They've been pretty special, and they're good guys that are going to graduate, making them the total package.
anybody change checked
We haven't checked anybody yet. That's going to change -- or we're going to find a way to change it.
breaks heel hurt played transition
We played well in spurts and I thought we hurt them with our transition game. We weren't rebounding well enough to get any breaks going in the first half. Rebounding is our Achilles' heel right now.
four happy men strange
This was a strange game. I was as happy as 10 men to only be down only four at halftime.
adjust adjusting anyone care coach defensive gonna liked people perceived start teams tried wants worst
This was one of the worst defensive teams I've had. I tried to adjust to people. People are gonna start adjusting to me. ... I don't think anyone wants to be perceived as a jerk. Sometimes a coach wants to be liked. I don't care if I'm liked anymore. We will be tougher.
bring melt people
We bring people from different areas, and they melt into one.
george hone michigan percent prepared second state time win
We're going to hone in 95 percent of our time on George Mason. If you don't win the first one, you don't get to the second one. But if you get to the second one and you're not prepared and you don't get out of the weekend, I don't feel like that's where Michigan State is right now.