Northern Illinois hires top Izzo assistant

That's a blow. He stepped in when Izzo was suspended this year.

He is a smart man to opt out before the MSU stock plummets on the NCAAB market...GO BLUE!

Dekalb is a a great place to hangout at. I usually go there 2 or 3 weekends a month.

I used to know Mark pretty well and have always been surprised that he didnt get a good coaching gig yet.  He will do well at N.Illinois.  I think when Izzo said no to the NBA he said yes to whatever came along.

Izzo's lost a lot of assistants over the years.  It's probably not going to matter that much.

It appears that Izzo is going to the high school ranks to replace him. Rumor has it that the recently resigned Lou Dawkins of Saginaw High will be in Izzo's staff.

When Izzo leaves for the NBA, this paves the way for a Stan Heath experiment.  It could work or it could be a disaster.  I think Heath is a decent coach, but not a great one.  He would do better at MSU than he is at USF, but Michigan would still be the dominant instate program.

Crean, Stan Heath, and Brian Gregory have all had runs of success at their post-MSU jobs (except for Crean at IU, but really does anyone think he's not going to turn it around?), but outside of Crean's one monster year at Marquette, nothing hugely remarkable. Mark Montgomery seems like a safe pick for a midmajor who's trying to find a guy to get them 2-3 tourney births before he bolts for another higher profile job. The trick is going to be for Izzo to keep a good staff, andmaybe he decided he needed a more experienced hand at ass't with the long time high school coach vice bringing in another ex-player with coaching aspirations.