The MSU basketball family is a tight-knit one. It includes players, coaches, players' families and beyond. Head coach Tom Izzo is well-known for the strong bonds he builds with those within the family and a lot of MSU's success has been credited to those relationships.

But what happens when two of the family's patriarchs leave to start a new family of their own?

"Any time you disrupt the nest, there's going to be more negative than positive," Izzo said.

In a span of nine days last April, two of MSU's three assistant coaches left campus to accept head coaching jobs at Division I schools: Brian Gregory at Dayton and Mike Garland at Cleveland State.

Garland said he knew he'd eventually get a head coaching opportunity because MSU had been so successful during his tenure. Still, leaving MSU and Izzo, who Garland played with at Northern Michigan, was a hard process.

"I was leaving a very close friend of mine," Garland said. "That was very difficult."

The departure of Garland and Gregory took its toll on the players, too.

"Coach Garland and coach Gregory are two coaches that I grew up with basically," senior center Jason Andreas said. "It's hard for me to lose them this year to different programs, but I'm proud of what they've done."

After Gregory and Garland left, Izzo wasted no time finding replacements.

Doug Wojcik was hired on April 22, four days after Garland took the Cleveland State job. Before coming to MSU, Wojcik served as an assistant at North Carolina for three years. As a player, he was Gregory's teammate at Navy.

Wojcik, who has the slender build and clean cut look of a military man, said Izzo's strong player-coach relationships attracted him to MSU.

"That's something that's really important to me because if you're close with your team, you're going to have a chance to be pretty successful," he said.

Wojcik's main responsibility is scouting MSU's opponents so the team is well-prepared for each game. During games, he doesn't even watch the Spartans much.

"I'm watching the opposing coach and point guard for the most part," he said. "Trying to get their calls or their signals or what play might be coming up to try to give us an advantage."

Wojcik played point guard at Navy and that experience has benefited MSU's guards, many of whom aren't point guards but are asked to play the position because the Spartans lack depth there. Junior guard Chris Hill is primarily a shooter, but he said film sessions with Wojcik have improved his game.

"He shows me different things from a point guard's perspective that I think help me," Hill said.

While Hill and the other guards learn the finer points of guard play from Wojcik, the Spartan big men get instruction from first-year MSU assistant coach Dwayne Stephens.

With the hiring of Stephens, two of MSU's three assistants are former players. Assistant coach Mark Montgomery, in his third year, also played for MSU. Izzo has said he likes to hire former players as assistants because their playing experience is valuable as a coach.

Stephens played forward at MSU from 1989 to 1993, winning the team's most valuable player award as a junior. After he finished his playing career at MSU, Stephens went on to play in Europe.

"It hasn't been that long since I was a player, and I think it really does help me relate to the guys a little more," he said. "Having played at Michigan State, I know some of the things that they deal with."

Before coming to MSU as a coach, Stephens was an assistant at Marquette under former MSU assistant Tom Crean.

During the Spartans' practices, Stephens uses his booming voice to instruct and encourage the post players. Sophomore center Paul Davis said Stephens has taught him a lot on and off the court.

"He's a huge reason why I'm doing some of the things I'm doing this year," Davis said. "He's a coach on the floor, and he's a friend off the court. I think if any coach can do that, then that's a great coach."

MSU's reputation for having great assistant coaches is nearly unparalleled. In the past eight years, five of Izzo's assistants have been hired to coach Division I basketball teams. In addition to Gregory and Garland, Stan Heath was hired at Kent State after the 2001-02 season and is now the head coach at Arkansas. Crean took Marquette to the Final Four last season in his fourth year there. Toledo hired former assistant Stan Joplin after Izzo's first season as head coach.

Both Wojcik and Stephens said they have aspirations to be head coaches. And when the right time comes, they know Izzo will support them in their decision.

"I feel very confident with my future in his hands," Wojcik said. "I know he has my best interest in mind. He really develops a trust, and I trust him with my family and my future and my career."

Izzo said the revolving door of assistant coaches can be hard to handle, but at the same time, the consistent promotion of his assistants to head coaching jobs keeps top replacements knocking on his door.

"It's a Catch-22," he said. "There is some positive. You get new guys in, new blood in, you get new drills. You get new ways of doing things.

"I think my staff has done a great job in every area but one. And that would be just knowing what I want, how we deal with the players. And that's just going to take a little time."