Heart perpetually on his sleeve, Tom Izzo shed tears Sunday after getting Michigan State to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 for the 15th time. “It’s been a tough year,” Izzo explained after the No. 7 seed Spartans upset No. 2 Marquette in the East Region. This was an understatement.
No basketball glory can erase the pain from the Feb. 13 mass shooting that left three dead and seven wounded, shattering the Michigan State campus. But Izzo stepped forward to do his part as a consoler and a unifier in the aftermath of that tragedy. In public remarks at a campus gathering, Izzo declared that he’s “just a basketball coach,” but he’s more than that—he’s the most recognizable Spartan, and arguably the campus’s greatest energy source.
“I don’t like the place,” he said that night. “I don’t love the place. I live the place.”
