By Mark Wilson 2/20/2014

We were doing our sporting podcast on this website when Rob Parker busted out Tom Izzo’s name as the next head coach with the Detroit Pistons.

I didn’t laugh, didn’t snicker; didn’t even give a minor giggle.

I actually thought… this FINALLY makes sense.

Not that Izzo leaving Michigan State where he has made a very comfortable life wasn’t always possible in the past; it just never made a whole lot of sense.

Atlanta, Chicago, Golden State, Cleveland— they are among the numerous NBA cities that have either wooed Izzo or been rumored as wooing him. He actually had a meeting with Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert, a good Spartan himself, before deciding that taking over a team minus LeBron James wasn’t the wisest of decisions.

At every end, Izzo remained in East Lansing.

With their win over Penn State on February 6th, Izzo recorded his 14th season of 20 or more victories coaching the green and white. Considering that his mentor, Jud Heathcote, only did that HALF as much, is saying a lot about what Tom has meant to the basketball program at the Pioneer Land Grant University founded in 1855.

His SIX trips to the NCAA Final Four speak for themselves and his .725 winning percentage in tournament games also speaks volumes. In 2000, his MSU squad beat Florida for only the second national championship in school history.

Parker will tell you that Izzo should have MORE than one title having advanced to college hoops’ biggest stage six times. He equates it to the Atlanta Braves winning just ONE World Series in the Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz era.

It’s hard for me to shoot that down.

However, there is no denying that Izzo has created an iconic personality on the national scene and his Spartan program is without question… ELITE.

(Rob would like to question that elite status, thank you)

In any case, Izzo’s services have been sought by NBA teams for the past 14 years.

Others like John Calipari, Rick Pitino and Brad Stevens have answered the call to the pros and grabbed the money without thinking twice. Pitino has done it a couple of times.

Despite all the college coaches that have attempted to find success on the NBA level like they did tutoring college kids, only ONE man has been able to win a crown at both levels.

Larry Brown is it.

L.B. has a national title with the University of Kansas and the Pistons.

It’s a lonely club to be in.

When Mo Cheeks was fired by the Pistons after only 50 games in his first season as Detroit coach, he became a member of the “Shortest Tenure Club.”

The first name on that list is Jerry Tarkanian.

Tark coached, or bought depending on how you look at it, mighty UNLV to a championship back in 1990. Two years later, he was approached by the San Antonio Spurs and given mega-bucks to try and turn around that franchise.

Bad idea.

From the outset he clashed with Spurs’ owner Red McCombs and when Tark rolled out to a 9-and-11 start, the owner pulled the plug.

20 games and out and a 1.3 million dollar “go away” settlement.

It was the first time in league history that a coach basically got… annulled.

Remember the Alamo?

Hell, Tarkanian wasn’t around San Antonio long enough to even SEE the Alamo. The only “Alamo” Tark got to know was the rental car company that provided the car so that Jerry could drive back to the airport and catch his flight to Las Vegas.

Three years later, Tark returned to college coaching at Fresno State where he remained until retiring in 2002.

Tark, the mastermind of UNLV’s ascent to basketball heaven, is enemy number one when it comes to futility of college guys making the move to the NBA.

Cheeks is now FIFTH on that list with his lousy 50 games.

None of that escapes Izzo.

He knows you stamp your own departure in the pros with job security so flimsy that even U.S. Congress laughs at it.

Like it wrote in a previous column; you’re fired the day you’re hired— they just don’t put a date on it.

Izzo, to this point, has never wanted any of that.

His wife Lupe and two kids have been very happy spending their lives in the Lansing suburb. They are the first family of Michigan State athletics. Mark Dantonio would have to win a few more Rose Bowl games and be in contention for a FOOTBALL national title to ever unseat “the King.”

It’s good work if you can find it.

He is currently the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten. In fact, no one is even close to Izzo’s 19 seasons.

Bo Ryan began at Wisconsin in 2001. Matt Painter replaced Gene Keady in 2005. John Beilein is next having taken over Michigan in 2007.

Izzo is the Dean.

Heathcote saw a lot in “Tommy” when he hired him as an assistant in 1983. Izzo was heading down to the “big city” after spending four years helping out at his alma mater, Northern Michigan. Prior to that, Izzo was head coach at Ishpeming High School in the U.P.

Not exactly a resume for a future star Big 10 head man.

After three years assisting Jud on the Spartan bench, Izzo wanted to try life outside of Michigan.

In 1986, Tom took a gig at the University of Tulsa.

J.D. Barnett was in his second season coaching the Golden Hurricane after replacing Nolan Richardson who left for Arkansas. Richardson would go on to win a national championship with the Razorbacks.

Barnett liked what he saw in Izzo and gave him a chance to leave his comfort zone.

Izzo wasn’t in Tulsa a full three months before he got homesick. Mike Deane had just left Heathcote’s staff to become head man at Siena. Jud called Tom and told him to “come home.”

He packed up the truck and moved back to East Lansing.

I don’t really know if it was a “truck” per se but… it sounded very “Beverly Hillbillies” like.

For a cool 80 days or so, Tom Izzo saw what life was like somewhere else and he HATED every minute of it.

The next nine years, Izzo was a good scout. He bided his time and aided Heathcote to the NCAA Tournament in six of those seasons. But, MSU never got past the Sweet Sixteen.

I hosted Jud’s coach show during those years. I got to know Izzo and the other assistants very well. When you host a “coaches’ show” you hear a lot of stuff. Some makes it on the air… some doesn’t.

In 1994 Jud announced he would call it quits at season’s end.

“Tom getting the gig?” I asked Heathcote.

He just stared at me.

Jud has a way of showing, without words, when to ask an appropriate question. As funny as Jud can be, he can be deadly serious just as quick.

The stare seemed to last an eternity.

“Damn right, he is!” Heathcote blurted out.

The wheels were already in motion to make sure Izzo became head coach when Jud finished in March of 1995. It was more a coronation than anything else.

Everyone was on Izzo’s side including Board of Trustees’ member Joel Ferguson and athletic director Merrily Dean Baker.

“I felt Tom was the hire to make,” she said then.

No interview process went on because none was needed. Izzo had done nothing to warrant any scrutiny because if anyone could have scrutinized it would have been Baker.

Merrily left Michigan State shortly after Tom’s promotion.

Izzo made sure Baker had tickets to the Final Four when the Spartans earned their spot in 1999 and 2000.

Outside of winning that Rob Parker-mandated SECOND national title, there is nothing left for Izzo to do at MSU. He’s blown past all of Jud’s coaching records and is by far the most successful basketball coach in the 100-plus years of Spartan hoops.

He matched his mentor with his 19th season this year.

If EVER Izzo was going to leave for the NBA… it would be before year number 20.

So, why the Pistons and why now?

I’m glad you asked that.

Owner Tom Gores is a Spartan alum and Flint/Genesee native; his family moved to that region in 1968. Anyone who follows college basketball knows how active Izzo has been in recruiting the Flint area over the the past two decades.

Gores’ firing of Cheeks after a 21-and-29 record, not the worst ever, and a two game win streak was awfully suspect. No matter what Gores thought of Mo’s coaching style, it’s an oddity to fire a coach after 50 games. As previously mentioned, it’s happened ONLY five times in the NBA annals; 50 or less in a first season.

At first, Lionel Hollins was seen as the popular and predictable choice to replace Cheeks. Hollins even commented that he would be highly interested in the gig despite losing out on the job to his 76ers’ buddy Maurice just last summer.

Instead of Hollins, assistant John Loyer was named interim coach for the rest of the season.

Loyer has never been a head coach prior to his elevation.

Hmmmm.

Now put Joe Dumars into the mix.

The longtime GM and president of basketball operations in Detroit has a contract running out. We generally assume that Gores made the call to fire Cheeks and if he wanted to show the NBA world that Joe D. was really “his guy” for the future, Hollins would be working in Auburn Hills today.

But NO! It’s John Loyer.

Prevailing wisdom is that Gores has left the door open to replace a coach AND a GM at season’s end. Dumars has been a Piston since his draft day in 1985 but that doesn’t mean he is here for life.

Don’t forget, the Edmonton Oilers DID trade Wayne Gretzky.
Joe has done a great job running the show. He has a ring from 2004 and could have easily had another in 2005. Six straight years the Pistons went to the Eastern Conference Finals under his watch.

Yes, he’s had his share of bad draft picks (See: Mateen Cleaves, Darko Milicic and Rodney White) but he has had his personnel triumphs too (See: Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and the Grant Hill trade).

The current roster has talent including one of the best up-and-coming big men in the NBA, Andre Drummond. Kyle Singler looks more like a steal every day.

The last six seasons have been brutal, no doubt.

Michael Curry was a complete bust as a head coach, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva simply didn’t help and Allen Iverson was past his prime. It all adds up to a hoops graveyard for the Pistons and what’s left of the fan base.

It’s hard to see The Palace go from a rollicking venue to watch a game to the morgue it is on most nights.

Izzo could change that immediately.

There would actually be people that would pay money to see Izzo coach. He would turn the light back on.

So, here’s what Gores COULD be thinking.
When Izzo’s season is over at MSU, win or lose, Gores could come at him with a butt load of cash.

Money is NOT an issue.

He could also offer what Izzo craves in order to leave the comfort and friendly confines of the Breslin Center.

Control.

An idea of that conversation? Got it for ya.

“Hey Tom,” Gores might say. “Hows about you and me work together to put this Pistons’ thing back together. You coach them, have control of the roster and we get a guy to be a clerical general manager; you know… take care of the day-to-day boring stuff. And, put YOUR OWN master touch on righting this ship?”

Or, something like that.

Dumars would be out of the picture. John Loyer would be an interim memory.

Tom Izzo, coach and GM of the Detroit Pistons.

I know what you’re thinking. Bill Davidson did that once with Dick Vitale straight out of the University of Detroit.

Well, that was 127 years ago (Fine, it was 35 years ago) and don’t hold that against the new guy. Plus, no one does that anymore.

Oh, they do it.

Greg Popovich has roster control but he’s certainly earned it. Four NBA titles buy you a lot of rope.

Others have had it too.

NBA rosters are simple. Its seven main guys and you fill in the blanks after that. We already know it takes two GREAT players to win it all unless you’re the ’04 Pistons who found a way to win the gold ball without two GREAT players.

Jordan and Pippen, Olajuwon and Drexler, Duncan and Parker, Kobe and Shaq, Kobe and Gasol, LeBron and Wade, Nowitzki and Kidd, Magic and Worthy… the list goes on and on.

It’s the formula MOSTLY for NBA championship nirvana.

Izzo knows his pro basketball.

He also ain’t getting any younger.

Tom turned 59 a couple of weeks ago. By next January 30th, he will be 60. This would most likely be the last chance for Izzo to give it a whirl in the NBA.
I believe Lupe would be on board with this plan.

Before you go squawking about how the wife shouldn’t make a difference; get over it. It happens and it happens ALL the time.

Anyone who follows Nick Saban knows that his wife Terry wears the pants in that family. She has orchestrated his moves since he was an MSU assistant back in the 80’s.

When Hill left the Pistons for Orlando, one of the bonuses was that his wife Tamia could easily continue her music recording career in the land of Disney.

Pitino?

He was signed, sealed and delivered to Ann Arbor as the Michigan basketball coach in 2001 before his wife found that she wasn’t all that thrilled with A-squared.

Big Rick left Michigan without a contract and ended up at Louisville where he remains to this day; and with a national title just last season… over Michigan.

His wife is very happy. She loves the Kentucky Derby.

Lupe is a Michigan girl and grew up in East Lansing. Their kids, Raquel and Steven are entrenched in school and don’t know a life outside the greater Lansing/Okemos community. Tom and Lupe have been married for 22 years.
She has a SAY in what they do.

If you don’t believe that? You’re a lonely person who has never been in a serious relationship. Those with a partner KNOW what I am talking about.

But, enough Dr. Phil.

Maybe I need Dr. Oz, but that’s another story.

Lupe realizes what it would mean for Tom to rule the roost at Six Championship Drive. It’s not far from E.L. and she has spent enough time at The Palace to call it a basketball “home away from home.”

It’s not Cleveland, Atlanta or Chicago or any other NBA outpost.

Gores’ generosity and the security of a long term contract could set the Izzo’s up for life if they aren’t already. Heck, if it didn’t work out and/or they didn’t like it, they could always move back. That is just a phone call to a moving company.

The bottom line is… it makes sense.

Izzo is just what the Pistons need at this time. If Pitino, Stevens, Calipari, Tarkanian, and Brown can give it a shot, why not Izzo?

Just because Mike Krzyzewski won’t leave Duke and Jim Boeheim can’t peel himself away from Syracuse doesn’t mean Izzo has to stay gazing at the Magic Johnson statue outside of Breslin the rest of his born days.

Gores has NO choice but to check with Tom and his reps after the season is done. Izzo has NO choice but to be receptive and interested in any advances.

I haven’t even brought up Steve Mariucci.

Mooch got a chance to make money coaching in his home state when he took the Detroit Lions job in 2003. Even though it only lasted until midway through the ’05 NFL season, when he was fired in a clash with then-president Matt Millen, Mariucci still got the opportunity.

Izzo knows EXACTLY what his buddy Mariucci’s experience was like in Motown. It is no mystery. Whether or not that jaded Tom’s future interest in becoming Pistons’ coach… only HE really knows for sure.

Or, maybe just him, Mooch and Lupe.

Am I stealing Izzo away from MSU without a replacement in mind?

Far from it.

Michigan State can survive without the “Izzone.”

Any number of candidates would line up for that Spartan coaching bonanza.

Remember, MSU has had exactly THREE head coaches since 1969.

Gus Ganakas, who still does color on the radio network, Heathcote and Izzo.

That’s it. Three.

Brian Gregory down at Georgia Tech would love to take over. Mark Montgomery is coaching at Northern Illinois. Stan Heath holds court at South Florida. Doug Wojcik is at College of Charleston. All are a part of the Izzo/Heathcote coaching tree.

Dwayne Stephens and Dane Fife currently sit next to Izzo.

Oh, and there is one more name.

Scott Skiles.

If you don’t think the third leading scorer in Spartan history would love a shot at coaching his alma mater, you don’t know Skiles.

He’s already coached three different NBA clubs; Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee. His record in 876 games is 443-433; only ten over .500 but it beats Izzo’s record when he took over for Heathcote.

0-0.

When Skiles played, he was even dubbed, “Mini-Jud” and was unquestioned as a “coach on the floor.”

Plus, he despises Michigan.

Who in the green and white community will ever forget his celebrated battles with the Wolverines’ Antoine Joubert? Skiles even once referred to “The Judge” as, “fat boy.” Joubert had his OWN spiced words for the fiery guard from Plymouth, Indiana.

Skiles would be an excellent choice as just the FOURTH coach for the Spartans in 45 years.

My point is that there would be no lack of quality candidates with MSU ties to replace a departed Izzo.

When Rob brought it up on the podcast, my first reaction was, “NO, don’t take Izzo!”

But, that was the alum in me.

Upon further review, it has merit. Gores is a Spartan, he is on the search for the next great thing in Auburn Hills and he has much to offer. This is almost getting to “no-brainer” status. The time is NOW to name Tom Izzo the head coach of the Pistons. I firmly believe that. Make it happen.