Thursday, March 28, 2024

Injury leaves Heathcote unable to return to campus this weekend

December 12, 2012

Heathcote

After men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo spent most of his weekly press conference sharing his excitement about the return of his mentor this weekend, an accident has resulted in a change of plans.

An injury resulting from a fall will prevent former basketball coach Jud Heathcote from attending this weekend’s festivities, MSU basketball sports information director Matt Larson said.

Heathcote, 85, was scheduled to coach Friday’s alumni game with MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio facing off against former men’s basketball coach Gus Ganakas and MSU legend Magic Johnson.

Izzo had said he thought his team could benefit from listening to Heathcote and had hoped to set up a meeting.

“Jud Heathcote has been a great mentor,” Izzo said Monday. “I still talk to him and I still love when he comes back. And I still get nervous when he’s sitting behind me. I mean, that’s as good a respect as you can give somebody.
“I still talk to players about, ‘Jud said this or Jud thought that or Jud used to have a saying on this.’ I probably should move on to somebody else by now, but I think it shows you the impact he probably had.”

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Injury leaves Heathcote unable to return to campus this weekend” on social media.