Tom Izzo shares thoughts on transfer portal, college basketball issues: ‘I’ve adjusted’

The transfer portal has now been in college basketball for several seasons, and coaches have had a chance to adjust to it. At the same time, for Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, the portal has made things harder but not changed what he wants to emphasize.

Izzo recently sat down with Rick Pizzo and discussed the upcoming season. There, he touched on the portal, explaining that it has forced him into making some changes in how he operates.

“Yeah, it really has,” Tom Izzo said. “I think we’re used to having either guys leaving early or leaving when they graduate. Leaving early because they went pro. Very few guys transferred. It’s just a different era. I’ve adjusted, but I don’t want to change what I had either. Culture, relationships are still very important to me. The day they’re not, you won’t be interviewing me.”

Like many coaches, Izzo isn’t against players having the ability to transfer or make money. Instead, his concern is that too much transferring isn’t good for a player’s development on the court or their academic success off of it. So, he does wonder if it’s the best approach.

“We’ve lost a lot of control now. Don’t kid yourself. I think a lot of people are afraid to say it because they’re in the middle of their careers, but I’m not. But I’m not afraid to say it because I don’t think it’s benefiting the kids in the long [run]. We’ve got more guys at four different schools than two different schools right now. How can that benefit anybody? So, I think the portal — they should get paid some money. There’s got to be guardrails about it. I mean, how can players in college that aren’t even pros be making as much money or more money? So, there’s got to be guardrails. It’s gotten a little crazy,” Izzo said.

“But, the portal, to me, you get to leave early in basketball anyway. If you’re good enough to go, you go. But if you’re not good enough to go, just changing venues and learning how to do that, I don’t think it’s beneficial. That’s my opinion. I saw a lot of teams last year that had a lot of new guys that didn’t do so well. Teams that had one or two that they brought in did pretty well. So, we’ll see how it works. It’s not old school. It’s really not. You’ve got to look at the big picture, and I have so many players that come back. Is that going to continue? Are we going to continue to help the players that come back? If you had a guy for eight months. It’s not the same as if you had him for four years.”

Tom Izzo is one of the longest tenured coaches in modern college basketball, and he’s seen many changes before these ones. Along the way, he’s consistently found success, winning a national championship, going to the Final Four eight times, and winning 737 career games. So, for now, he’s going to continue to emphasize what he always has, the relationships developed between coaches and players. It’s worked so far, and that’s going to be what Izzo wants to rely on moving forward.

“So, I’m still sticking with my theory that players in the end,” Izzo said. “Even though it seems like they’re benefiting, have the freedom to do what they want. If you had the freedom to do what you want, to do what you want when you were 18, I’m not sure you’d be sitting here. Neither would I be. So, it’s a slippery slope. It’s something that we have to adjust to, but relationships are going to matter until I’m done, and if that hurts me in the end, it’ll get me but I don’t think so. Last year, it might have been proof of that. I think we’ll see. I’m going to adjust, but I’m not changing what I believe in.”

Tom Izzo will begin his 31st season as the head coach at Michigan State next year. The Spartans lost three players from last season’s team due to transfer, and Izzo tapped into the portal to add three players to replace them.