When assigned this column, I was troubled on what would be the best thing to focus on when addressing Tom Izzo.

The subject could range anywhere from his great achievements on the court to what he’s done for this university to even what he’s done for this whole state of Michigan in general. The possibilities were endless and I was somewhat overwhelmed. I mean, we are talking about a man who has achieved so much here at MSU and across the state during the past 20 years.

But luckily for me I was given the best piece of advice by one of my editors, who simply said write about what Izzo has meant to me. And it clicked like a light bulb in my head — Izzo may be the No. 1 reason why I’m at MSU, and why I’m even sitting here writing this column for The State News.

Growing up in a Spartan family, the chants of “Go green, go white” were instilled into my blood throughout my childhood. So when it came time to apply to colleges, obviously MSU was on my list. But it wasn’t the only school on it.

I had looked around at other smaller schools, mainly for competing at lower scale college athletics, and during the fall of 2011 I was sitting right smack dab in the middle on which route I wanted to take. But in the end I was sold on MSU because of the passion I had for the Spartans’ collegiate sports, mainly basketball because of its constant success under Izzo.

I had been so invested in Izzo’s teams throughout my childhood that my whole week would be centered around the two days the team played. If it was a Tuesday night game, I would spend the whole day at school looking forward to that opening tip. It was like motivation to get through the day, my piece of dessert.

When March rolled around, it was no different. March stands as one of my favorite months of the year because of Izzo. It’s taken for granted how I just expect MSU to be in the NCAA Tournament every year since Izzo has only missed the big dance twice throughout my entire lifetime.

Being able to bank on getting to watch the Spartans in the postseason is something that not a lot of fan bases can say about their respective team and helped groom my love for MSU.

The final big reason for how Izzo impacted my decision to come to MSU was the dream of being a part of the group named after him — the Izzone. Being a part of the Izzone has been a great experience because Izzo makes the students feel like they are part of the team. Through his actions and how he has constantly pointed to the students as a huge impact in the game, it has made me feel as close to the program without playing on the court.

So with all of those things being said, when I look back at my decision to come to MSU, it now appears to easily have been a no-brainer. And a lot of that can be credited to Izzo, and I’m sure plenty of other Spartans would have a similar story on how and why they ended up here in East Lansing.

Robert Bondy is a reporter at The State News. Reach him at rbondy@statenews.com.