EAST LANSING – It doesn’t take much to get Tom Izzo to spout about the NCAA. Not these days, with the constant rules changes and current trend away from amateurism toward college sports becoming professional minor leagues.
Getting a slam-dunk opinion from the 70-year-old Basketball Hall of Fame coach on the latest landscape-altering decision – granting a G League pro eligibility to play Division I hoops – was an easy layup.
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I asked Izzo after practice Tuesday, Oct. 21, two days before Michigan State basketball’s exhibition opener against Bowling Green, about the NCAA’s ruling to allow guard London Johnson to return and play for Louisiville. The 21-year-old former four-star recruit originally reclassified to the 2022 class then eschewed college hoops to sign a highly publicized contract with the G League Ignite that was the largest given at the time at over $1 million. He toiled the past three seasons in the league with the Ignite, Maine Celtics and Cleveland Charge.
To say it triggered Izzo’s intensity is an understatement.
“To me, it’s ridiculous. To me it’s embarrassing,” Izzo said during an empathic diatribe. “I love my job; I don’t respect my profession. And I don’t respect whoever’s doing that. Whoever made those decisions, because they’re afraid that a lawyer is gonna sue them, sooner or later, you gotta fight the fight.”
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts to a referee call during the first half of the First Round of NCAA Tournament against Bryant at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, March 21, 2025.
The NCAA’s ruling this week and Louisville’s move with Johnson came after Thierry Darlan was recently granted eligibility to join Santa Clara after the Senegal native, who was part of the NBA Academy Africa, played two seasons with the G League Ignite. But Johnson – who grew up in Norcross, Georgia, and has dual American-Jamaican citizenship – is dangerous new territory for the future of college hoops recruiting.
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And Izzo knows this. Especially because neither he nor MSU’s compliance office had any idea the NCAA was allowing it until it became public.
“This just goes to show you how ridiculous people that are in power make decisions,” Izzo said. “And I’m gonna get killed, because someone’s gonna say, ‘Well, if they go pro and it doesn’t work out, shouldn’t they be able to come back?’ Well, what about the freshmen you recruited there? That’s somebody’s son, and he thinks he’s got himself a good place. And all of a sudden, shazam, they pull out of their hat and bring a 21- or 22-year-old in.”
Feb 19, 2023; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Team Scoot guard London Johnson (2) makes a slam dunk against Team Luka during the second half at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-USA TODAY Sports
The development process of US basketball has been one of the big topics in coaching circles in recent years, especially in the college realm. Along with concern that the gap is closing internationally, the transfer portal has major programs turning more toward older players in their fifth, sometimes sixth year of college basketball – even Izzo this season brought in a transfer, Trey Fort, who is on his sixth different college in six years. He and other programs also have gone overseas to chase talent. All of this is allowed within the NCAA rules.
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It is a case of the venerable coach – whose degrees are in education and who has stressed acadmics through his 31 years as MSU’s head coach – not liking the paradigm shift but adapting to field a winning program. And he’s right about the residual effects of turning college athletics into total free agency, where no one cares about getting a degree and setting themselves up for a career beyond when the final whistle blows in whatever sport they play.
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The NCAA – by proxy, its membership schools that make up the organization – has become entirely disingenuous at the highest level in continuing to trumpet the “student-athlete” moniker while contorting rules to increase revenues across the board.
As Izzo said, where does it all end?
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“You hit a sore spot for me, because the transfer portal is enough,” he said. “We have no rules. And now, we’ve just taken no rules and just added some more no rules. And if everybody likes that, that’s good. And I feel bad if a kid came out early – maybe we shouldn’t come out early? Maybe we should do a better job of helping kids make decisions, and said decisions they make, and then, ‘Oh boy, I made a bad decision, so I’ll go back.’
“But now, the unintended consequences are the kids that are there will now get screwed and not have an opportunity. And then they’ll be transferring, and then we’ll have this circle.”
How absurd it is? In posing the question, I jokingly asked Izzo if he’d try and bring back some of MSU’s former players who left early for the NBA. He responded accordingly: “If you want a silver lining in the cloud, I am gonna call Magic (Johnson) tonight, Jaren Jackson, Miles (Bridges), Gary (Harris), Max (Christie).”
At this point, what’s to stop him?
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As video of the answer to my question went viral Wednesday, Connecticut coach Dan Hurley retweeted Izzo’s response with bull’s-eye and goat (GOAT) emojis. Izzo and the Spartans face Hurley’s Huskies in an exhibition game on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Hartford – and it is sure to be a topic the two will discuss, if they already haven’t.
“I do not know everything about it. I cannot believe that this was sprung on us (Monday). And if it was done earlier and I didn’t know about it, shame on me,” Izzo said. “But my compliance officer didn’t know, there are people in this league who didn’t know.
“The NCAA has gotta regroup. They gotta regroup. That’s my opinion, only my opinion, so don’t be mad at anybody else, be mad at us. But I’m not gonna be mad at the players, I’m gonna be mad at the adults in the room. So don’t blame the players anymore, blame the adults that make the decisions that allow some of these ridiculous things to happen. And then the unintended consequences hurt kids that are trying to do it the right way – with a process, not jumping around. So that’s my 2 cents.”
Only it’s a question – one increasingly valued in the millions of dollars flowing to players and billions flowing to schools – that needs to be addressed. What exactly is the role of college athletics? Because right now, it is becoming nothing more than minor league sports with no academic purpose or direction.
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Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tom Izzo is right: College sports rules becoming more and more absurd
