Tom Izzo shares feelings on breaking consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance record for coaches
With Michigan State‘s inclusion in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Tom Izzo has broken the record for most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances by a head coach. He and the Spartans have appeared in 25 straight tournaments.
He broke the record set by Mike Krzyzewski at Duke of 24 from 1995-2019.
“It means the world to me,” Izzo said at his post-Selection Sunday press conference. “It means I had a lot of good players, means that I had a lot of good staff. It means that I had a lot of good fans. You don’t win games over a period of time because of what you do you. You win games because there’s a collection of people that are all doing their job. I’ve said this many, many times. The games we won because of our community, our fans, our students, you just wouldn’t believe. We come back in the locker room and said that would have been a loss. There’s at least three or four of those every year. Those three or four makes the difference between something good and something average.”
Tom Izzo’s historic NCAA Tournament streak is unprecedented
Michigan State’s streak of 25 straight NCAA Tournaments is the third-longest streak in history. On top of the list is Kansas, which has made 33 straight NCAA Tournaments since 1990. North Carolina made 27 straight from 1975-2001.
The only years Tom Izzo has not made the NCAA Tournament as a head coach were his first two years on the job when his team made the NIT. Also, the 2019-20 Spartans did not play in the NCAA Tournament because there was no NCAA Tournament due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
He has made eight Final Fours and won the 2000 National Championship.
“I still remember winning the national championship and everybody wanted to canonize, which they do you,” Izzo said. “When you’re when you win something big, everybody thinks you did it in five years. I remember saying to some of you in this room that are old…but some of you guys that are old. I said come back in 10 years and then come back and now it’s been 20 years.”
Izzo has never had a losing record with the Spartans, and enters the 2023 NCAA Tournament with a 685–278 all-time record.
Michigan State plays USC in the first round of the tournament.
“I think what anybody looks for in anything in life is can you sustain success? Can you be consistent? If you’re consistent, there’s going to be a little bit of ebbs and flows and ups and downs but consistency where you never really fall off. Are you in contention to do something? Do you have a chance? That’s kind of what I’ve built it on. That’s what I’ve wanted to do . There’s been times. It happened last weekend. I said, I’ll lose a game if we’re not going to do this, right. I said it right on the bench to people. I don’t need to win games. I need to figure out what do we need to do to win championships and to advance,” Izzo said.
“What does it mean to me? Probably everything. Probably more than any other thing because it means you’ve had a group of people that have bought into a system and you as the head coach have maintained some sense of consistency over a long time. Twenty-five years, and we probably would have had 26 If it wasn’t for COVID. Twenty-five years is a long time, but I still hope the best is yet to come.”