Tom Izzo is the Michigan State Spartans, but did he almost leave East Lansing for the NBA last year?
“I’ve had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, and I looked at one last year with [the] Phoenix [Suns],” Izzo revealed in a Wednesday look on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “My former participant, [Suns owner] Mat Ishbia, that was a tough factor to show down as a result of, No. 1, I type of wished to go together with him … We talked severely about it, as an example that. After which, No. 2, I have been fairly vocal about it: I do not like what is going on on in faculty athletics. However, by the way in which, neither do 99.8% of the soccer and basketball coaches in America.
“I believe the children are going to nonetheless discover out earlier than it is executed that it is not greatest for them, both. However, within the meantime, you bought to do what you bought to do.”
UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley revealed final week on “The Dan Patrick Show” that he consulted with Izzo in 2024 when Hurley had discussions with the Los Angeles Lakers about their head-coaching emptiness, which Hurley in the end turned down. Izzo stated within the aforementioned interview he informed Hurley that he “did not need to lose him in college basketball” as a result of he is “so good” for the game but additionally said they “obtained to keep watch over what’s taking place” of their “occupation.”
After all, Izzo’s Spartans misplaced to Hurley’s Huskies within the Candy 16 spherical of the 2026 NCAA Males’s Match final week. It ended a 2025-26 season that noticed Michigan State go 27-8 general and 15-5 in Big Ten play, good for fourth within the convention.
[More Hurley: UConn Men’s Basketball Hoping For Championship Transfer Magic Once Again]
As for what’s next for the 71-year-old Izzo, the Michigan State coach expressed that he has no plans to retire within the close to future, saying he is targeted on “making an attempt to win a nationwide championship.” Concerning the connection to the Suns, Ishbia performed for Izzo at Michigan State for 3 seasons (1999-2000 season to 2001-02 season), together with for the Spartans’ 1999-2000 nationwide title workforce.
The Suns ended up hiring former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jordan Ott as their head coach final summer season, marking the franchise’s third teaching rent in as a few years (Frank Vogel, Mike Budenholzer and Ott). This season, Phoenix is 42-34, good for the seventh seed within the Western Convention.
