Tom Izzo stepped to the podium following his team's loss to Penn State Tuesday night, and his first comment really had nothing to do with the game.
"Tough day for me today. And for Spartans," he said. "I lose a football coach."
It was just a few hours before that Izzo watched his close friend Mark Dantonio call it a career. Izzo was among those in the room when Dantonio delivered the news to his players and staff that he was
stepping down after 13 years at the helm.
Izzo's reaction?
"I cried. That’s what I did, I cried," he said. "I was there for George (Perles), for Nick (Saban), for Bobby Williams, for John L (Smith), and now for Mark. My claim to fame is I’ve seen everybody that’s gotten fired or resigned. I’ve seen every goodbye. It was a privilege to be in the room, even though I had my shoot-around a half hour later."
In a press conference shortly before tip-off, Dantonio, 63, said he no longer had the energy for the job. He was honored at halftime and delivered a short speech to the crowd.
"I’m happy for him because I think he did what he wanted to do," Izzo went on. "It was a challenging couple weeks for him. Jobs are interesting, guys. They’re difficult. But it's great to have him behind my bench, it’s going to be great to have him on my plane, it’s going to be great to have him finally just sit back and not have to answer 1,000 questions.
"I cried."- Tom Izzo gave a long and thoughtful answer while reflecting on the retirement of Mark Dantonio: pic.twitter.com/MgbDr3Vi0C
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork)
February 5, 2020 "I think you’re going to find out as time goes, if you’ll find a way to look at the 9,000 good things he did instead of harping on the couple of things I saw tonight, nobody’s done what he’s done here in football. Nobody. I’ve been here for 37 years of it, and in that 37 years we’ve had some pretty good football coaches. I’m proud of Mark, I’m proud of his family."
Dantonio is currently in a court battle with former staffer Curtis Blackwell, although he said that had
"zero" impact on his decision to step down. Blackwell most recently alleged that Dantonio committed two NCAA violations, including getting jobs for parents of two MSU players.
Despite this, Dantonio, the winningest coach in program history, intends to stay on board with the MSU athletic department in a special-projects role. He said he might have a hand in the search for his successor.
"The search will be on, and thank god he’s going to be hanging around and hopefully will help in that," Izzo said. "But I should have been joyful because he got to do something -- as I was sitting there looking back at him today, I kind of wanted to ask him if he wanted to trade places. He looked like the weight of the world is off his shoulders already, and for that I’m excited for him, happy for him."
