Will Tom Izzo retire? Michigan State basketball coach continues to lead Spartans in 2024

Tom Izzo is a pillar of not only Michigan State’s basketball program, but the sport of college basketball as a whole.

Since taking over for Jud Heathcote ahead of the 1995-96 season, Izzo has helped the Spartans become a model of consistency in a sport where even some of its historic powers are prone to jarring dips in fortune. Michigan State has made the NCAA Tournament every year in which it was held since 1998. Once there, his teams typically fare well, with 14 Sweet 16s, eight Final Fours and a national championship during that time. The man’s popularly known as “Mr. March” for a reason.

For all he has achieved, it’s fair to wonder just how much longer Izzo will keep roaming the sideline.

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Izzo is turning 70 in January, an age at which many coaching stalwarts get close to hanging up their whistle, if they haven’t already. Those questions exist in a rapidly changing sport and during a time in which the Spartans, while still successful, haven’t been a bona fide national title contender in several years.

As Michigan State prepares to face off against Kansas in the Champions Classic Tuesday in Atlanta, here’s a look at Izzo and the looming questions about retirement:

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Will Tom Izzo retire?

The decision to step aside from a game you love and a profession you’ve devoted your life to is a deeply personal one that doesn’t come with a neat or clearly defined timeline.

Certain factors can make it more likely to occur, though, which is how Izzo finds himself in this discussion.

As he approaches his 70th birthday, Izzo is in his 30th season as a head coach at a major Division I program, an extraordinarily long run.

The fact he’s still coaching is notable enough on its own.

Izzo has long been one of the faces of college basketball, but many of his peers in that group have stepped aside over the past handful of years — Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Villanova’s Jay Wright and, most recently, Virginia’s Tony Bennett. While all those moves were notable, Wright and Bennett gained that much more attention for their departures, as they were just 60 and 55, respectively, at the time of their announcements.

If that trend is extended to college football, there’s also Nick Saban, who retired back in January after a legendary 17-year run at Alabama. Saban and Izzo both began coaching at Michigan State in 1995.

Several of those coaches cited recent changes like liberalized transfer rules and players being able to make money off their name, image and likeness as contributing to their decisions. While some spoke about it more generally, citing things like the sport’s “changing landscape,” Bennett was perhaps the most explicit in his retirement news conference in October.

"I think it's right for student-athletes to receive revenue. Please don't mistake me," he said. "The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not. And there needs to be change, and it's not going to go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way.”

While Izzo has managed to adjust to the new landscape, his profession is in a drastically different place than it was when he first took over in East Lansing 30 years ago.

“I don’t know where that’s going to go,” he said last month. “I really don’t care anymore. I’m going to do my job the best I can do my job.”

For his part, Izzo has publicly pushed back against the idea of retirement.

He underwent hip replacement surgery in the spring and is feeling “healthier and happier now than I was even three four years ago.” He continues to recruit well, bringing in the country’s No. 4 class in 2023 and No. 16 class in 2024, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. Though they’ve all had at least 13 losses and made it past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament just once, Izzo’s past four teams have continued to produce. The Spartans have won at least 20 games in 12 consecutive seasons, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

Most of all, he’s still enjoying what he does.

“I will say this — when I don't do that and you hear I don't do that, then you can start predicting and guessing,” Izzo said in October. “But until then, all the ones that are out there wanting to use that, bring it on. Bring. It. On. Any and every day of the week, bring it on.”

Whenever it does come time for Izzo to step away, don’t expect anything elaborate.

"I've never thought of what exactly I'll do,” he said to CBS Sports in January. “I know what I won't do. Jud had a farewell tour. Mike did. I have a lot of respect for those guys. I'm sure I'll be more in the Jay Wright and Nick way of doing it. When it's over, it's over and I'm walking away.”

As far as NIL goes, Izzo appeared to take more issue with the movement in the sport.

"There's good guys around, I just gotta get more of them where the program matters, the team matters," Izzo said. "There's nothing wrong with NIL, there's nothing wrong with transferring, but when you can do it because you don't like something that was said to you, or whatever some of these guys are. 'I had to work a little harder, so I'm going to leave,' I just think it's ridiculous. And if I get sick of that, that's what would get me out."

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Tom Izzo age

Izzo is 69 years old and will turn 70 in late January.

Tom Izzo record

Heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Kansas, Izzo is 709-295 over the course of his time at Michigan State. His .706 win percentage ranks him second among Spartans coaches who coached at least 15 games at the school.

Now in his 30 season, he’s the winningest and longest-tenured coach in program history.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Tom Izzo retire? Michigan State basketball coach entering 30th season