Playing career 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. 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.
Early coaching career 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.
Head coach at Michigan State of
Kentucky, the two highest paid college coaches in 2012 Hired as head coach at Michigan State in 1995, Izzo is currently the longest-tenured basketball coach in the
Big Ten Conference. 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 in conference play, finishing sixth and seventh in the conference and failed to make the NCAA tournament. In
1998, MSU's record in conference improved to 13–3 and Izzo won the first of his 11
regular-season Big Ten championships. 1998 also saw Michigan State begin a streak of 27 straight NCAA tournament appearances, which is the second 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 36-16, although Michigan
vacated five of their wins in the series at the start of his head coaching career. 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. 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." Izzo fell short of obtaining his second national championship in
2009 with a loss to
North Carolina 89–72 in
Detroit. 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. 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. On January 28, 2016, Izzo won his 513th career game moving him into second place past
Gene Keady all time for wins by a coach in the Big Ten, at the time trailing only
Bob Knight. On March 18, 2016, MSU suffered what was, at the time, perhaps the single greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history when No. 15-seeded
Middle Tennessee defeated the No. 2-seeded Spartans 90–81. It was believed that MSU was the equivalent of a No. 1 seed and Vegas odds had them pegged the favorite to win the title. Middle Tennessee led from start to finish and held off repeated Michigan State threats to take the lead. Despite that, Izzo stated that the team "resurrected me". On October 13, 2016, Izzo won the Dean Smith Award which is awarded to “an individual in college basketball who embodies the spirit and values of the late North Carolina coaching great”. Izzo led the
2018–19 Spartans to a 32–7 overall record, his fifth 30-win season, and 19th season with 20+ wins, nearly triple his predecessor's seven 20-win campaigns; the team reached the Final Four for the eighth time under Izzo. On October 21, 2019, at the outset of Izzo's
25th season leading the Spartans, Michigan State was named the preseason No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball preseason poll for the first time in program history, dating to the beginning of the AP poll in 1948. On February 26, 2022, with a win over the No. 4-ranked
Purdue, Izzo tied former Indiana coach Bob Knight for the most wins all-time at a Big Ten school. On March 8, 2022, he passed Knight for the most wins. On January 30, 2024, also his 69th birthday, he earned his 700th career win. On August 11, 2022, Izzo signed a five-year contract extension, worth $6.2 million annually, with the
Spartans. The contract solidifies that Izzo will be a "Spartan for life". On October 13, 2024, Izzo brought the Spartans to his alma mater for an exhibition game against
Northern Michigan for a 70–53 win over the Wildcats. During the game, Izzo was honored by NMU with his number 10 jersey being officially retired by the school.
Hall of Fame On April 4, 2016, Izzo was named to the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo chose former
Maryland head coach
Gary Williams to introduce him at the Hall of Fame ceremony. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 9, 2016. In the Fall of 2016, Izzo was named to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Hall of Fame.
Coaching philosophy Izzo's teams are known for strong guard play, toughness and rebounding. Izzo is famed for his "war" rebounding drill, in which the players wear football helmets and shoulder pads. His motto is "Players Play – Tough Players Win". His other coaching philosophies include, "he doesn't determine playing time, players do", "A player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team” and “Typically, it’s on the players.” Izzo is also known for scheduling extremely tough non-conference schedules as preparation for the NCAA Tournament in March. == Coaching tree ==