To train, to teach, to instruct, to guide — these are just a few words describing what it takes to be a coach in any sport in the world today. The fact that Michigan State University has two of the best head coaches in the nation in our basketball and football programs — Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio — just gives us students another reason to tell our friends why we are the true leaders of this country.
A normal sports follower could have told you that Michigan State has some pretty good coaches in its programs just because of the recent success the football and basketball teams have enjoyed. But when I was asked by one of my friends who I thought had the best head coaches in those two sports in the Big Ten, I must admit I was hesitant to say Michigan State at first. So after a little while I just said, “I don’t know who’s No. 1, but I know Michigan State is in the top 3 for sure.” Boy, was I wrong.
My friend followed up by saying, “well, according to Bleacher Report, Michigan State has the top college basketball/football coaching duo in America,” smiling like he coached the basketball and football teams himself.
So what’s behind all the hype about Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio being the best coaching duo in this country? Well, that’s where I come in and give you some facts and milestones these coaches have achieved so far in their prestigious careers here at MSU.
To say Mark Dantonio has turned around our MSU football program would be an understatement. Ever since Dantonio has stepped up to the helm at MSU in 2007, our football team has been bowl-bound every year. That’s something neither Nick Saban nor MSU great Duffy Daugherty can say they accomplished when they were coaches at MSU.
But that’s not all. Making it to a bowl game is not the sole expectation he sets for his players. It’s the idea of winning each and every game they play. And so far, Dantonio’s message seems like it’s getting to his team as he has a 44-22 record in 5 seasons at MSU, ranking him sixth amongst the most winning coaches of all time at our college.
Last year, he brought us home our first Big Ten Football Title since 1990. I wasn’t even born the last time MSU won that. And after another 11-win season, MSU saw themselves finish in the top 10 in the USA Today Coaches poll this year, which has only happened two other times in the history of the program before this year. Mark Dantonio has changed the culture at MSU by making winning an obligation rather than an option.
Then there’s Tom Izzo. Everyone loves Tom Izzo — the guy has his own section for his home basketball games at Breslin Center. But all this respect didn’t just come to him.
Just like the paycheck you get at the end of the week for working your nine-to-five job, Tom Izzo earned it. After he took over the MSU basketball head coaching duties in 1995, he’s taken his team to the NCAA Tournament 14 years in a row. In those 14 years, MSU has made it to six Final Fours and won two national championships, including one in 2000.
Izzo also has coached his team to six Big Ten titles and has produced 14 NBA players, according to Bleacher Report. A man such as Tom Izzo is an icon at our school, and the feeling is mutual. Izzo is all about the Green and White; what other college basketball coach would have turned down the offer to coach one of the best basketball players in the world — Lebron James — to stay at his school?
So whether it’s Dantonio or Izzo, both coaches have brought game plans to instill character, hard work and success to their respective programs. Like the writers from the Bleacher Report said, “It simply doesn’t get any better than this.”
Omar Thabet is a State News guest columnist and journalism sophomore. Reach him at thabetom@msu.edu.
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