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EAST LANSING — When Tom Izzo looks down his bench or across the table in meetings, he doesn’t simply see the many faces of new assistants.
He gets a glimpse of his coaching past.
Thomas Kelley? As an assistant coach, Izzo recruited the guard from his Grand Rapids high school to Michigan State basketball. They reached the Final Four together in 1999.
Austin Thornton? He, too, played for Izzo in two Final Fours, including the 2009 national championship game.
RELATED: Couch: 3 quick takes on Izzo’s transfer portal rant, the possibility of MSU facing Michigan again, and the death of Cinderella
Jon Borovich? He got to know Izzo when he was 15 years old, when MSU was recruiting AAU teammates Charlie Bell, Shane Battier and Dane Fife.
Even newcomer Saddi Washington, who arrived during the offseason, has known Izzo since he was a teen in the early 1990s before he went on to star at Western Michigan and play professionally.
While Izzo’s longtime confidante Doug Wojcik won the Big Ten’s assistant coach of the year award and has served as his boss’ right-hand man during games this season, the Spartans’ other four assistant coaches — all under 50 — have brought youthful perspective for 70-year-old Izzo.
Along with a near-lifetime of relationships with them all.
“What do they say, six degrees of separation? There's always some connection,” Kelley said after practice Tuesday, with MSU three days away from tipping off its Sweet 16 appearance. “And coach likes that familiarity.”
And when it comes to NCAA tournament time, Izzo has relied on his assistants with short prep time between rounds and games. The next step is Friday as South region No. 2 seed MSU (29-6) faces No. 6 seed Mississippi (24-11) in the Sweet 16 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Tipoff is 7:09 p.m. (CBS), with the winner advancing to Sunday’s Elite Eight against either Auburn or Michigan.
It comes after Izzo’s staff experienced plenty of turnover in recent years.
Mike Garland, Izzo’s college teammate at Northern Michigan and longtime assistant, retired in 2022. Dwayne Stephens — who was recruited by Izzo and played for Jud Heathcote (1989-93) — spent 19 years on Izzo’s staff before taking the head coaching job at Western Michigan in 2023. Fife, who Izzo unsuccessfully recruited as a player, spent 10 years on his staff before leaving for an assistant job at his alma mater, Indiana, in 2022. Mark Montgomery, another Izzo recruit and Heathcote player, took the Detroit Mercy job last summer after his second stint on Izzo’s bench.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Tom Izzo believes Michigan State can get to another level. Spartans need it in Sweet 16
That required Izzo to rework his staff, sticking fairly closely to his blueprint of what made MSU into a blueblood.
“Coach has been doing it for 27 years straight, so there's some secret sauce in terms of him having a good temperature of how hard to drive the guys and when to kind of back off,” said Washington, who grew up in Lansing and met Izzo when he was “14 or 15” while playing pickup games on campus with MSU players. “But the thing that's been most consistent is sticking to the details. We're always going to prepare. We're always going to try to give the guys as many of the answers to the test, so that come game time, they're just kind of moving in their own authentic way.”
A 46-year-old native of Bloomfield HIlls, Borovich played at Central Michigan from 1997-2001. Izzo gave him his coaching start as a graduate assistant (2001-03) and brought him back initially as recruiting director in 2022 after Borovich spent three years as an assistant coach at Northwestern. Borovich was then promoted to one of the Spartans’ assistant jobs last summer after Montgomery left and the NCAA allowed coaching staffs to expand from their previous limit of three.
That NCAA ruling also allowed Thornton, a native of Cedar Springs, to join the coaching staff after returning in 2021 as video coordinator. A former MSU captain, the 36-year-old went to four Sweet 16s and won three Big Ten regular-season titles under Izzo from 2007-12.
Kelley, as a player from 1994-99, bridged the gap from the Heathcote to Izzo eras. The 48-year-old was part of MSU’s last two teams to not make the NCAA tournament (1996 and 1997) but also was on Izzo’s first Sweet 16 and Final Four teams the following years. Kelley returned to MSU from Western Michigan in 2022.
The son of 1960s Spartan basketball great Stan Washington, Saddi Washington is somewhat an outlier, in that he didn’t play or coach for Izzo and spent eight seasons at rival Michigan under both John Beilein and Juwan Howard. Kelley — who recalled playing against Washington as a sophomore in the 1992 state high school tournament — said Washington’s experience in scouting against MSU has opened the holdovers’ eyes and minds.
“He has a fresh pair of eyes,” Kelley said of Washington. “He does give a different view: 'When y'all ran this, we looked at it this way.' Or, 'When we played against Wisconsin, we guarded them this way.' 'When you guys would run this play for Tyson, we would guard it this way.' So he has given us that. And it's always cool to see how other people view us, and it's good to hear his opinion that way, because he was on the other side for a while”
Wojcik shifted into an advisory role during the offseason, which opened up a spot for Izzo to hire Washington to work with MSU’s bigs. The symbiosis between the staff has paid major dividends.
“I think coach has done a phenomenal job of really delegating and utilizing all of us as far as our skill sets and what we bring to the table,” Borovich said. “And I think having … a lot of guys familiar with the program, but also guys that have a lot of different backgrounds, can bring some new ideas to the table that can be talked about amongst the group, filter out the stuff that we that we like, that we don't like, and then try to execute.
“Coach, I think, has done a phenomenal job of really having defined roles amongst the staff, so we have clear idea of what our responsibilities are, so we can really own those responsibilities and then try to execute it come game time.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball: Younger assistants show Tom Izzo's history
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He gets a glimpse of his coaching past.
Thomas Kelley? As an assistant coach, Izzo recruited the guard from his Grand Rapids high school to Michigan State basketball. They reached the Final Four together in 1999.
Austin Thornton? He, too, played for Izzo in two Final Fours, including the 2009 national championship game.
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RELATED: Couch: 3 quick takes on Izzo’s transfer portal rant, the possibility of MSU facing Michigan again, and the death of Cinderella
Jon Borovich? He got to know Izzo when he was 15 years old, when MSU was recruiting AAU teammates Charlie Bell, Shane Battier and Dane Fife.
Even newcomer Saddi Washington, who arrived during the offseason, has known Izzo since he was a teen in the early 1990s before he went on to star at Western Michigan and play professionally.
While Izzo’s longtime confidante Doug Wojcik won the Big Ten’s assistant coach of the year award and has served as his boss’ right-hand man during games this season, the Spartans’ other four assistant coaches — all under 50 — have brought youthful perspective for 70-year-old Izzo.
Along with a near-lifetime of relationships with them all.
“What do they say, six degrees of separation? There's always some connection,” Kelley said after practice Tuesday, with MSU three days away from tipping off its Sweet 16 appearance. “And coach likes that familiarity.”
And when it comes to NCAA tournament time, Izzo has relied on his assistants with short prep time between rounds and games. The next step is Friday as South region No. 2 seed MSU (29-6) faces No. 6 seed Mississippi (24-11) in the Sweet 16 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Tipoff is 7:09 p.m. (CBS), with the winner advancing to Sunday’s Elite Eight against either Auburn or Michigan.
It comes after Izzo’s staff experienced plenty of turnover in recent years.
Mike Garland, Izzo’s college teammate at Northern Michigan and longtime assistant, retired in 2022. Dwayne Stephens — who was recruited by Izzo and played for Jud Heathcote (1989-93) — spent 19 years on Izzo’s staff before taking the head coaching job at Western Michigan in 2023. Fife, who Izzo unsuccessfully recruited as a player, spent 10 years on his staff before leaving for an assistant job at his alma mater, Indiana, in 2022. Mark Montgomery, another Izzo recruit and Heathcote player, took the Detroit Mercy job last summer after his second stint on Izzo’s bench.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Tom Izzo believes Michigan State can get to another level. Spartans need it in Sweet 16
That required Izzo to rework his staff, sticking fairly closely to his blueprint of what made MSU into a blueblood.
“Coach has been doing it for 27 years straight, so there's some secret sauce in terms of him having a good temperature of how hard to drive the guys and when to kind of back off,” said Washington, who grew up in Lansing and met Izzo when he was “14 or 15” while playing pickup games on campus with MSU players. “But the thing that's been most consistent is sticking to the details. We're always going to prepare. We're always going to try to give the guys as many of the answers to the test, so that come game time, they're just kind of moving in their own authentic way.”
A 46-year-old native of Bloomfield HIlls, Borovich played at Central Michigan from 1997-2001. Izzo gave him his coaching start as a graduate assistant (2001-03) and brought him back initially as recruiting director in 2022 after Borovich spent three years as an assistant coach at Northwestern. Borovich was then promoted to one of the Spartans’ assistant jobs last summer after Montgomery left and the NCAA allowed coaching staffs to expand from their previous limit of three.
You must be registered for see images attach
That NCAA ruling also allowed Thornton, a native of Cedar Springs, to join the coaching staff after returning in 2021 as video coordinator. A former MSU captain, the 36-year-old went to four Sweet 16s and won three Big Ten regular-season titles under Izzo from 2007-12.
Kelley, as a player from 1994-99, bridged the gap from the Heathcote to Izzo eras. The 48-year-old was part of MSU’s last two teams to not make the NCAA tournament (1996 and 1997) but also was on Izzo’s first Sweet 16 and Final Four teams the following years. Kelley returned to MSU from Western Michigan in 2022.
The son of 1960s Spartan basketball great Stan Washington, Saddi Washington is somewhat an outlier, in that he didn’t play or coach for Izzo and spent eight seasons at rival Michigan under both John Beilein and Juwan Howard. Kelley — who recalled playing against Washington as a sophomore in the 1992 state high school tournament — said Washington’s experience in scouting against MSU has opened the holdovers’ eyes and minds.
“He has a fresh pair of eyes,” Kelley said of Washington. “He does give a different view: 'When y'all ran this, we looked at it this way.' Or, 'When we played against Wisconsin, we guarded them this way.' 'When you guys would run this play for Tyson, we would guard it this way.' So he has given us that. And it's always cool to see how other people view us, and it's good to hear his opinion that way, because he was on the other side for a while”
Wojcik shifted into an advisory role during the offseason, which opened up a spot for Izzo to hire Washington to work with MSU’s bigs. The symbiosis between the staff has paid major dividends.
“I think coach has done a phenomenal job of really delegating and utilizing all of us as far as our skill sets and what we bring to the table,” Borovich said. “And I think having … a lot of guys familiar with the program, but also guys that have a lot of different backgrounds, can bring some new ideas to the table that can be talked about amongst the group, filter out the stuff that we that we like, that we don't like, and then try to execute.
“Coach, I think, has done a phenomenal job of really having defined roles amongst the staff, so we have clear idea of what our responsibilities are, so we can really own those responsibilities and then try to execute it come game time.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball: Younger assistants show Tom Izzo's history
Continue reading...
