Tom Izzo reflects on passing Bobby Knight on Big Ten all-time wins list

Tom Izzo is one of the top college basketball coaches in the country. Currently 67 years old, Izzo – who has been at Michigan State since 1995 – has built the Spartans’ program into a consistent NCAA Tournament contender during his time in East Lansing and has climbed up to the top of the Big Ten Conference record books in his 27 seasons.

With Michigan State’s 77-67 win over Maryland on Sunday in the Spartans’ regular season finale, Izzo recorded career win No. 663 – which helped the head coach top the legendary Bobby Knight as the Big Ten’s all-time leader in career wins.

Following Sunday’s win over Maryland, Izzo met with the media for his postgame press conference and reflected on passing Knight – who coached 901 career games at Indiana and is someone Izzo has always looked up to – on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list.

“It will,” Izzo said when asked if his milestone means anything to him. “It’s almost humiliating now and a little embarrassing because I idolized Bob Knight when I got here. He was my hero, you know? John Wooden for some, but I didn’t know quite enough about him, so it was Bob Knight for what he stood for and what he did – and how he treated me.

“My first Big Ten victory was against Indiana, and he treated me the same then as he did when we beat them when we went to the Final Four. He gave me some great advice then. He told me how to handle the media … kind of an oxymoron there, I guess. He told me the road how to get to a national championship because he felt our team was good enough. I’ll always remember that more than the number of wins.”

While Knight compiled a 662-239 overall record during his long tenure at Indiana, Izzo is currently 663-265 at Michigan State.

Izzo shares conversation with John Calipari on adapting coaching techniques in new era of college basketball

With the college basketball landscape always evolving, Tom Izzo – just like many other coaches – has had to adapt his coaching techniques in the new era of the sport.

In terms of that adaptation, Izzo shared after Sunday’s game that he had recently spoken to Kentucky head coach John Calipari about how they should coach their respective teams as the sport continues to change.

“I got a call from John Calipari today and he talked about our job is still to push kids, even though the surroundings make you kind of question it,” Izzo said. “How much can kids take now with all the stuff they’re going through? So, I kind of told my guys that story. I said, ‘We’ve gotta throw it out the window.'”