Izzo the Ultimate Politician?
January 18th, 2012 at 11:39 PM ^
Coming from Iron Mountain up here in the yoop, I have seen Izzo a few times, and my mom actually spent a ton of time with him this summer at a charity he and Mariucci sponsored here in Marquette. As much as I tire of hearing about State, he seems to be a very nice guy. Just my input, FWIW.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:44 AM ^
I was a production assistant on the MSU coaches shows in '97 and '98. Izzo was an incredibly nice guy to the staff, a bunch of hungover 20somethings who would rather be dead than at work at 7am Sunday. He once called the station on a Thursday evening to ask if we could tape the show that night because of the team's travel plans. Izzo and Greg Kelser then proceeded to shake hands with and thank every member of the staff for helping the team out by rescheduling at the last minute. Little shit like that says more to me about a guy than his reaction after losing a one-point game to your rival.
As an aside, Saban was a gigantic asshole on Sunday mornings. He was pissed if MSU won the day before and he was homicidal if they lost. George Blaha kept jumping his cue one morning, forcing us to start over. Saban's reax: "Can we hurry this shit up, George? I have to get to fucking church."
Ron Mason was polite and friendly, but gave off this, "Everybody come see how good I look!" vibe.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^
My freshman year in college, I was a member of the Izzone. He brought his wife and kids to the camp out so they can meet some of the students and said a few words about how he appreciates all that the students do here. We also had a town hall style meeting with the entire student section before the season started where Izzo came and talked a little about the team that year and opened it up to students to ask him any questions they had. That came off as a very cool and approachable thing to do as a coach. I can't imagine many other high caliber coaches (Roy Williams, Saban, etc) doing anything remotely similar.
The guy is passionate about his job, which I dig. Whether you clean bathrooms or preside over trials, I appreciate when somebody is passionate about what they do. I can see why his style may irk some opposing fans, but I would think that his work with Lloyd Carr in helping to raise money for Mott would overshadow a few comments that he made immediately after a frustrating loss to a rival, IMHO.
January 18th, 2012 at 11:45 PM ^
I think it is important to recognize and respect the succes Izzo has had over the years at MSU. What's concerning is seeing Izzo possibly starting to take the tragectory that Bobby Knight took during his time at Indiana. Bobby started out as a fiery coach who could win. You may not have liked his personality and how he did it, but you certainly respected the results. Over time, Bobby changed. He became more outrageous during press conferences and his actions during games became more exagerated during the second half of his coaching career. You can speculate all day as to why this happened. It's a psychologists dream. I suspect the pressure to live up to the established record of success is a big part of it. I would bet being comfortable in your position makes you a little more open and honest about how you really feel. Who knows, but for Izzo's sake, I hope he does not take Knight's path.
January 19th, 2012 at 5:03 AM ^
I'll be honest,every time I am exposed to Izzo it takes me a few days to get past the hatred that he inspires in me. Just that grating, bloated red whining face.
There are plenty of reasons Izzo gets a free pass from the media. It's not exactly like Tressel either. Obviously, being an educated guy who wins is part of it. But honestly, until last year the character of the kids in his program really were a stark contrast to that of the football team. I think that contrast helped to build his reputation. And to be honest, he gets a pass from a lot of front-runner Michigan football fans who like MSU basketball. There's something about that that makes my skin crawl, but hey, its good for the economy, right?
There is just something about his crybaby manipulation that gets under my skin. Or his total inability to lose a game ever without blaming it on the officials. Just the way he fell crying to the floor arguing that obvious over and back call that he didn't even see.
It takes me a little while to come down, but if you find yourself having trouble I'd suggest you try to think about something more pleasant, like this piece by Chantel Jennings http://espn.go.com/colleges/michigan/basketball/story/_/id/7474763/michigan-wolverines-revel-third-row-michigan-state-spartans
Or heck, just think about Chantel Jennings...Or maybe Chantel Jennings on the beach?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:13 AM ^
Izzo isn't the ultimate politician. But he is the ultimate reptile. So I guess that makes the original supposition half right.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:48 AM ^
Izzo just seems like one of those guys who is competitive to the nth degree and can't handle losing. Plenty of successful coaches are like that. And when they win, they're calm and professional. When they lose, especially against a team they think they should win against, they throw a tantrum. It does take a level of maturity and professionalism to be classy and graceful in losses like this; Izzo (and many others) has not reached this level and probably never will.