Once upon a time, Tom Izzo entertained a head coaching opportunity with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He decided to stay at Michigan State, but the NBA hasn't stopped calling.
Speaking this week on the Dan Patrick Show, Izzo, now 71, said that "I've had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, and looked at one last year with Phoenix -- my former player Mat Ishbia."
A walk-on at Michigan State who played under Izzo from 1999-2002 and was part of his lone national championship team, Ishbia has been the primary owner of the Suns since 2022. The Suns were between coaches last offseason after Mike Budenholzer was fired, and it sounds like Ishbia made a pretty hard pitch to Izzo to take over.
"That was hard, that was a hard thing to turn down, because No. 1, I kind of wanted to go with him," Izzo said.
Asked if the Suns offered him the job, Izzo said, "Well, we talked seriously about it. Let's say that. And then No. 2 is, I’ve been pretty vocal about it, I don’t like what’s going on in college athletics."
"By the way, neither do 99.8 percent of the football and basketball coaches in America," Izzo said. "And I think the kids are still going to find out before it’s done, it’s not best for them either. But, in the meantime, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’ll let guys like you call me old-school, but that means you’re old-school, too. And I think we’re both right-school, so we’ll see what happens."
Michigan State HC Tom Izzo reveals he was in talks with the Phoenix #Suns:
"I've had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, looked at one last year with Phoenix – my former player Mat Ishbia. That was hard, that was a hard thing to turn down... we talked seriously about it." pic.twitter.com/kjSIJreIWz
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 1, 2026
Izzo has not been shy about the deterioration of college athletics in the era of the transfer portal and NIL payments. He doesn't necessarily object to either, but wants more measures in place to police them. Izzo's Spartans lost in the Sweet 16 last week and haven't been to the Final Four since 2019. His roster was the only one in the Sweet 16 whose starting lineup didn't feature a single transfer.
When UConn head coach Dan Hurley called Izzo for advice when Hurley was weighing a head coaching offer from the Lakers a couple years ago, Izzo said that he "didn't want to lose him in college basketball because I think he’s so good for it, but I did say, 'We gotta keep an eye on what’s happening in our profession, too.'"
"Because I think something has to be done with the insanity we’re going through. But I don’t think anybody else cares," Izzo said. "So I’ll just keep plugging along and see if I can get to a Final Four again."
