Tom Izzo on Big Ten expansion's impact on basketball: 'They add a chance to get tanlines in the winter'

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has seen a lot during his time coaching the Spartans. With one more season before the Big Ten expands, he knows that the conference’s new format is going to be something that he needs to adjust to moving forward.

Still, Izzo decided to joke about the future road trips to the four Pac-12 schools, USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon, who are joining while he was at Big Ten Media Days.

“They add a chance to get some tanlines in the winter,” Tom Izzo said. “That’s what they’re gonna be for me.”

Tom Izzo will have better luck tanning on road trips to play the Los Angeles teams than the Pacific Northwest ones. However, it’s good to know that he’s looking forward to those games, especially given the concerns around scheduling these road trips for sports like basketball.

Ultimately, Izzo trusts the conference leadership to handle these additions as appropriately as possible and shared his excitement for the additions overall.

“You know, I don’t know about the scheduling. I have all the faith in Tony [Petitti] and our group and how they do it. It’s gonna be a little interesting, but I was here and I was telling Tony behind the stage with Jim Delaney when they started this expansion and everything, and I was one who was telling him how crazy he was, and as they say, crazy like a fox,” Izzo said.

“Look what’s happened with the Big Ten Network. Look what’s happened with the expansion of our league, and I think there’s been a lot more positives than negatives and I think that will continue. So, I’m excited. Mick Cronin is a good friend. We played USC last year. We played Oregon last year. We haven’t played Washington recently, but I guess I’m excited. There’s gonna be some incredible trips and I’m looking forward to them.”

There’s still another season before those four schools join the Big Ten. So, for now, Tom Izzo’s focus will remain on building a winner at Michigan State in the current conference.

Tom Izzo on the unintended consequences of the transfer portal

The world of college athletics has changed in recent seasons. NIL, the transfer portal, and conference realignment have helped to reshape sports. For coaches, the transfer portal has reshaped roster building, and Tom Izzo recently noted what he sees as unintended consequences of it.

“I’m still hoping that the portal isn’t here to stay, you know? But I’ve told more than a few of you in this room, some that I’ve talked to late at night, that I haven’t changed my opinion one time from four or five years ago before it even came out,” Izzo said.

“I used the word ‘unintended consequences.’ It’s like the book, you read the book and then somebody makes a movie of it. We’re watching the movie and, for the most part, we have predicted the ending of it. So what you’re seeing now? We were worried about, one, with a high school kid getting left behind. Number two, what’s going to happen to academics? You transfer three, four times – what’s going to happen to academics? And then maybe the third biggest one is what’s going to happen to those players when they need a place to go?”

Tom Izzo added that relationships and culture are both going to remain important to him moving forward.

“A lot of guys have answers that aren’t down in the basement. So we let it play out. I’m going to do what I do,” Izzo said. “Sooner or later, so everybody in this room knows, it’s probably going to get me. But I’m going to have fun in the meantime. And I’m going to enjoy the fight to keep it to a relationship program over a transaction program.”