Where does Tom Izzo stand amongst the great men’s college basketball coaches of the last 25 years? The Athletic and writer CJ Moore have their answer, which was published in their recent ranking of the top 25 coaches of the 2000s. The Athletic has Tom Izzo in the top ten, coming at No. 9 overall.
One important note about these rankings is that they intentionally did not include the 1999-00 season. Obviously, Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans won the national championship that year, which would have probably altered these rankings quite a bit.
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Below, you can see what they had to say about Izzo and his ranking. You can also click the link to read their article, which also goes over his coaching statistics:
If we were including the 1999-2000 season, Izzo’s resume looks even better because we’d be including a national title. But even taking that out, he trails only Roy Williams for Final Fours this century. Izzo is also tied with Bill Self and Mark Few for most NCAA Tournament appearances; all three have yet to miss. Izzo’s personal run, dating back to 1998, is the longest. It looked like Izzo was starting to slip the last few years, but he just won the Big Ten and made an Elite Eight. In an era where players are transferring and some coaches are scared to coach their players too hard, Izzo hasn’t budged. He knows his way works.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: MSU’s Tom Izzo listed as a Top-25 NCAA basketball coach of the 2000s
