Big Ten Rankings: Top 5 highest paid basketball coaches
Mar 14, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo during the first half in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament against the Maryland Terrapins at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
This has to be the least-surprising rank on the top-five list thus far as Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has been a wizard for the Spartans since taking over the reigns from Jud Heathcoate in 1995 — he was once the legendary head coach’s assistant.
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Izzo has led this program to elite success, even having Michigan State mentioned in the conversation as one of the top programs in the nation year in and year out.
It’s difficult to ever count the Spartans out of a Final Four run in March as Izzo has led Michigan State to seven Final Fours in his 20 years at MSU.
Along with those Final Fours, the pint-sized head coach also has nine Elite Eights, 13 Sweet Sixteens, 18 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, four Big Ten tourney titles, seven Big Ten regular season championships and a national title.
It’s pretty safe to say Izzo is worth the $3.9 million salary — and some may even say that he is worth possibly a little more than $4.0 million.
There is no doubt that the Spartans are where they are today because of Izzo and he has brought this program from a middle-of-the-pack squad to one of the elite teams in the nation.
Tom Izzo is nicknamed Mr. March for a reason.