Tom Izzo has been a college basketball coach for a long time. While he has brought plenty of success to the Michigan State basketball program — he’s made eight Final Fours and won one national title — Izzo has always had a bit of a … let’s call it a thorny disposition, I think that’s correct.
Like the rest of the basketball coaches in the Big Ten, Izzo addressed the media at the conference’s media day and gave this whopper of a quote.
“You know what, what’s wrong with being unhappy?” Izzo said, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN. “I’m unhappy most of my life. Unhappy drives you. Unhappy pushes you. Unhappy makes people realize, ‘You know what? I’m not good enough. I’ve got to get better.'”
Now, Izzo was saying this in the context of players leaving teams via the transfer portal. Were his comments on the portal great? Not really — Izzo essentially said athletes shouldn’t be allowed to move around freely like coaches can, because of buyouts and also because coaches have apparently paid their dues, and essentially deserve to be able to do that? I don’t know, man, I think that kind of stinks, but Tom is free to think what he wants.
Anyway, he got to that point after saying “Most coaches will be doing that at 35 and 40 and 50, not at 20 when one guy tells you to leave because you’re unhappy.” Essentially, Izzo believes in the power of wallowing in misery, and that being in a bad headspace makes you better. Perhaps this mentality is why he has won one national championship in his time in East Lansing, and he should consider reevaluating his approach.
